MCI CLASSIC

April 14, 2000

Ernie Els

ERNIE ELS: Well, I played pretty solid. I thought it was pretty cold out there today. We had no wind, which was -- which was good for us, especially the way we finished yesterday. I was really pleased about that. I played with Davis, and as you all know, Davis knows this place pretty well; so I just kind of followed him around today and tried to put it in play off the tee. And I've been hitting my irons pretty well, so I'm quite comfortable with my iron shots. So I got myself a lot of birdie opportunities and made one bogey. Made a bogey on the 4th hole, it was a par 3, I hit it into the water hazard on the left and got a really -- made a good up-and-down there for bogey. But other than that, I pretty much hit it on the fairways and hit it on the greens, so I'm quite pleased about the round.

ERNIE ELS: Well, this morning it was a driver and a 4-iron, and they even put the tees further forward today; so I was very pleased about that. (Laughs). Yesterday, it was just the toughest hole I've played all year, you know. I mean, it was just a crazy, difficult hole. But today -- this morning, as I said, you know I'm glad it's really overcast, and even very cool. It wasn't all that tough to play in. I think you'll see the scores a lot better than it was yesterday.

ERNIE ELS: Well, it's starting to rain now; so that's why I've got a smile on my face (Laughter.) But still, you know, rain without any wind, you can still land it. But when it's rain and wind, it starts getting tough.

ERNIE ELS: It felt like it. It felt like at least birdie. You get to a par 4 and you can't reach it in two shots, it's pretty tough. I mean, Davis played awesome yesterday and made 6 on 18; so I felt like I made at least birdie.

ERNIE ELS: I hit two drivers. And I was in the hazard left of the green. I couldn't get it to the green. I had 210 to the front yesterday. Driver wasn't enough.

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, Saturday at Augusta. (Laughter.) That was pretty difficult right there. I would still say Saturday at Augusta was tougher, because at Augusta, it's almost impossible to know where the wind is coming from at times. So Saturday at Augusta was as tough as I've seen it in the U.S..

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, it's a lateral water hazard, which means where the ball went in, I get two-club lengths from there and go to the other side of the hazard. I took my two-club-length drop and chipped it up to about 12 feet and made a good putt for 4. I was left of the hazard there.

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I was in between a 4- and 5-iron. I went with a 4-iron and tried to hit a soft cut, a soft draw.

ERNIE ELS: Mental, probably. I mean, you're going to get yourself in a frame of mind where you feel like, you know, it's tough for everybody, and you've got to try to get the most out of your round. You know, most of the guys can play the wind shots and the little cut shots and hook shots; but, you know, you've got to get yourself prepared before you go out there to know that you have to try and get everything out of your round. You've got to scramble and scramble and hang in there.

ERNIE ELS: It's so early in the tournament, still. You know, he's still just running for position at the moment. If he had to do that on -- tomorrow or Sunday, obviously, you'll have a different attitude, maybe. So right now, you know, first two rounds of the golf tournament, you're just trying to get into position and get yourself ready for the weekend. I knew I had a lot of holes left. I've played the front nine pretty well; so I felt like I had my own birdie opportunities out there, and I was just trying to focus on that. But it's nice to see shots go in like that. We don't see that too often. You might see it three, four times a year. He hit a great shot.

ERNIE ELS: He looks very comfortable out there. He doesn't really put himself in danger off the tee. You know, he plays the safe shot off the tee and he knows where the greens are running to. So it's fun playing with him out there.

ERNIE ELS: Oh, yeah. I'm in really good shape right now. 7-under through two rounds. I'll take another two rounds like that, it would probably win the tournament. So depending on the weather, as you say, I'm there, where I need to be. I'm not too far from the lead right now; and right now, I'm two shots ahead of the guy that is behind me. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I think Monday was really good for me. Monday we played at Cherokee Plantation in the Shell Match, and I think both myself and David Duval were really flat on Monday. I guess it was nice, now, that I did play on Monday, you know, because it kind of got my mind off it. I think if Monday was just a normal travel day, it would have been a really long day, you know, thinking about what I could have done on Sunday and where I missed putts and what I could have done better. So playing golf on Monday was -- kept my mind off what happened on Sunday. And, you know, Tuesday I didn't do much; and then Wednesday is the Pro-Am. So actually the week went really quick up to now.

ERNIE ELS: Oh, yeah. I think I couldn't have hit the ball a lot better than I did, but obviously I could have hit a lot better putts. You know, the new green at 16 got me a little bit. That same tee shot went into that green, the old green, the ball would have been probably in the hole or very close to it. You know, the ball just didn't come back all that much. A very tough 8-footer down the hill. 17, I thought I hit a good one, but it had too much break. And 18, I hit a bad putt. So... And 14, I had a chance -- I had a chance on 13. I mean every hole on the back nine I had a chance. But at least I put myself in position this time.

ERNIE ELS: Oh, yeah, I think Davis is definitely the guy to watch out for. I've played with him the first few days, and I can see he's hitting the ball very well and very solid and he's putting well. He's going to be a tough guy to beat this weekend, but I'm playing well, too.