BUICK CLASSIC

June 5, 2002

Ernie Els

TODD BUDNICK: We welcome Ernie Els to the 2002 Buick Classic. He took last week off and has made eight of nine cuts this year on the PGA TOUR and is ranked 11th on the Money List, third in the world, and just won your ninth PGA TOUR victory at the Genuity Championship earlier this year.

As a two-time past champion, why don't you talk about how the course is playing.

ERNIE ELS: The course is in great shape. It's a nice color at the moment. I played yesterday morning, they must have cut the greens last night and this morning, and I think the greens are getting to that firmness and quickness that we'd like to have before we go into next week, obviously. And that's the way I remember this golf course; playing quite firm and very fast, and I think that's when it plays at its best. It's got some rough around the fairways, and around the greens. I must say, the new bunkering they have put on the golf course is great. It really fits the golf course.

You know, it's the type of course which is not very long. You're going in with a lot of short irons and you can reach most of the par 5s in two, but for some reason, especially when it's firm and had it doesn't rain, low scores don't normally win here.

It's really a great warm-up, if you want to call it, to next week, but in itself, it's a great tournament.

Q. How much confidence do you have and fondness to come to this place that you've had success here?

ERNIE ELS: Actually, I've had to withdraw twice from this tournament, which is very, very disappointing. If you ask my caddie or even my wife or people close to me, I really look forward to coming here. Ever since the middle 90s when I really fell in love with the place, I had some good finishes, I've always enjoyed coming here. I enjoy East Coast golf in America. I love the way they set up the golf courses here in the summer.

Yeah, I really am thrilled to be back, and knowing that we are going to be here for a couple of weeks, it's even better. I love to go down to New York City and go see some things down there. It's really a nice stop for us.

Q. Retief was saying that going into the Open this year, he's looking forward to people recognizing him a little bit more and not being, "who is this guy," and he's done well since then; can you relate after winning your first Open, what it was like playing on the Tour?

ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah, I can relate to what Retief is maybe going through now. I think it's kind of nice, you know, getting around and getting around very quietly. Retief is a quiet person, quiet-spoken person. He keeps to himself, in I way. I don't think he would like a lot of hoopla around him. I think the way it's been going for him is perfect for him, for his attitude and his persona.

Yeah, when I won in '94, obviously, I was very young, I was 24, and I was mainly playing on the European Tour. I played well here that week, losing to Lee Janzen, and then winning the U.S. Open the week after at Oakmont. People don't really have any idea who I was, and I think for about a year after that, especially you guys, the media, really ran a lot of stories about me in the golf magazines and other magazines, just basic stuff to find out more about me.

I think he's been going through the same, but he's definitely a different player than I was when I won.

Q. Would you advise him at this stage of his career as to how to pace himself, going back and forth between Europe and the United States; I believe he still plays quite a bit, not only here but over there, he's playing 35 or 38 tournaments; that's quite a load to handle at his age, don't you think?

ERNIE ELS: I think he's been around a long time. He's played most of his golf in Europe, and this year, he's taken up membership on the PGA TOUR. He's a great asset to the U.S. Tour. He's a quality player, quality person. I think we should be proud to have him on our tour.

But he has his home in London. He's got a house in Orlando now two houses from me so we are almost neighbors there. I think he'll do what he feels comfortable with, and I think at the moment, he's played a lot of tournaments over here in March and April and I think he's going to play a couple now. Then I think he's going to come back in August around the PGA. I think he's doing it the right way. I think he's playing a full schedule over there, which means he's playing about 15 over there and he's playing 15 here. So that's 30 and a couple around the world.

Q. Retief was saying that he wants to catch you, having two U.S. Opens; you'd probably like to distance yourself. Who has a better chance, you going for three or him going for two?

ERNIE ELS: No, I think I've got a better chance. (Laughs). I've got more experience than him.

We've always played against each other, with each other, since we were 12, 13 years old. We know each other very, very well. We've played a lot of practice rounds together. We go out for dinner. We're very good friends.

But out on the golf course, we're not very good friends. (Laughs). That's just normal. We are looking for quite a few more majors, that's all I can say.

Q. Have you been able to visit Bethpage yet?

ERNIE ELS: No, I haven't. I'm just going to take care of this week first, and then next week will work itself out. I've done my best doing it that way in the past. I'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow; that kind of a thing. I'm going check it out on Monday for the first time.

Q. It seems like a lot of golfers will wait for the Monday or Sunday or Tuesday before; why do you think players are able to prepare for a course they have never seen in such a short amount of time?

ERNIE ELS: You know, we've done it - most of the U.S. Opens we go to, we have to go see it the first time. You see it on a Monday. We go to the British Opens, same thing. We go out there on a Monday and check it out.

That's just the way we do things. Sometimes I don't even play three practice rounds; I might just play one practice round, maybe one and a half. If I've got a good feel about it, I'm happy. You just want to kind of pace yourself and not get too involved with the whole setup.

Q. Does this seem like the Congressional five years ago, or does it seem longer, shorter?

ERNIE ELS: No, it seems shorter, for some reason. It's five years that's gone like that. (Snaps fingers. ) Even '94 has gone pretty quick. That's why I've got to pull up my socks now. I'm not getting any younger, I'm 33 this year, so I'm looking for more.

Q. I know it's been eight years ago, but what was the biggest thing that you took away from finishing second to Janzen and going to Oakmont, from playing that week at the Buick Classic?

ERNIE ELS: A lot. That year, I remember that time of the year I started playing really well. I finished second at the British PGA at Wentworth. Ollie beat me there by a shot. I think I had a week off and then I came here, and I was here on a Sunday already. Back then, I had no family, just thought I'd come check it out, spend some time in New York with my girlfriend. Then I started practicing here on a Sunday and a Monday, so I had a really good look at this golf course and I really loved it from the first time.

Then I played good that week. I felt so comfortable with my game, and confident, and going into my second U.S. Open, I didn't feel a lot of pressure. I knew I was playing well. So that helps a lot, when you're playing pretty good going into a major.

Q. You said earlier that you had some things to do in Manhattan. Would one of those be going to lower Manhattan to see the World Trade Center site, and what do you think is the general feeling on the Tour playing these two weeks in New York?

ERNIE ELS: It's always been special to come to New York, as I say. And obviously, as we all know, 9/11 has been a shock to everybody.

I've been up the World Trade Center a couple of times to the top floors, and that used to be my visit whenever I used to come to New York. Now it's not there anymore. I want to go see what it's like down there. I haven't been in the city since it happened. I've got some friends down there, and to see what the mood is like. It's such a special place. I'd just like to see what it looks like now.

Q. You're playing Hartford for the first time in a while. Is it because of the proximity to the Open; is that why you chose not to go back overseas?

ERNIE ELS: Well, to be honest with you, they have been trying to get me to play there for the last eight years. (Laughs). For eight years I've said, yes, I'll play and never showed up. So when they asked me at the start of the year, I said yes, and I was ready to pull out again, but I thought, no, I'll go up there this time and go check it out and see what it's like. I know it's a TPC course and TPC golf courses suit my game normally. You can use your driver there.

So it will be three good weeks for me now and I've got two weeks off, and play Loch Lomond and then the British Open. It just fits my schedule probably better than before.

Q. There's a possibility that the tour might be leaving this golf course after this year. Can you talk about why you like playing here?

ERNIE ELS: To myself, it will never be the same tournament if they move it. It will be really hard for me to - I haven't seen the other course where they want to take it to, but I've heard this rumor for a year or two. If they move it from here, I might not play it. It's that simple. I like this place so much, and we don't play enough of these type of courses on TOUR, I feel. This is an old, traditional golf course. We play U.S. Opens on these golf courses; so that means it's a great golf course.

I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but for me, this is really good, and this is the Buick Classic at Westchester. If they move it from here, I might not come back.

Q. It seems like golfers could have come a long ways from the 70s wearing played pants and white belts. How aware of fashion on TOUR and has Duffy Waldorf ever tried to loan you his hat?

ERNIE ELS: Well, I usually just check what Tiger wears, and that's in fashion.

I'd like to play in shorts, that would be nice, but I guess that will never happen. (Laughter.)

Q. Did you grow up playing in shorts a lot?

ERNIE ELS: Oh, definitely. We played in shorts all the time. Where I come from, it's pretty warm especially in the summer. When I play in Florida, I play in shorts all the time. Even in London, believe it or not.

Q. It's tough to win once, let alone back-to-back, but do people look ahead to U.S. Opens, trying to do that?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I guess so. I find yourself somewhere in your round this week - I think you'll find yourself somewhere in your round where you think about next week. I really believe that when I'm on the range, I'm working on my game with my mind on next week. A lot of the shots that I'm trying to shape and the shots I'm trying to play, when I go out to the practice chipping green, I'm doing it for next week a lot. Although, it will be good to have it - to have those kind of shots in play this week already.

Yeah, you get yourself to think about it. But when I'm on the golf course and I'm focusing on a shot this week, I'm really going to try and put my attention on trying to win this golf tournament and do as good as I can this week, because if you play well this week, it's going to carry you over to next week, anyways.

Q. Hate to bring you back, but the 13th on Sunday at Augusta, you said after that, "Sometimes PGA TOUR players think we're capable of doing things we're really not capable of doing." Kind of an honest comment. What did you learn from that, notonly from that shot, but from the realization that maybe you tried to do too much?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I spoke about it a couple of times with people around me. I was just trying to be very honest. On the tee, I wasn't very comfortable. I knew it was a very, very big tee shot for me to play, to get it into a very aggressive, good area, to give myself a chance, for my second shot. I was just not - I was still not in the shot when I was over the shot. I was not 100% focused. I made a bad swing, and when I got in there, I got a hell of a break that the ball didn't go - wasn't a lost ball or wasn't in the creek, you know. Even then, I was still trying to push myself to get myself into good position for birdie for some reason. I basically just kind of lost it for a little bit, trying to create something that wasn't there. I guess that's where that comment came from. That's just the way it was. There's no other way to put it.

Q. Is having the Buick and the Greater Hartford Open around the U.S. Open; is that a good thing for the international players, having it all right in one area?

ERNIE ELS: It doesn't really make a huge difference. I always feel that this event, the Buick Classic for myself, is always great to have it before the U.S. Open, wherever the U.S. Open might be, whether it's in California, Texas or here. This type of course really gets you going. You've got to hit shots. You've got to strike the ball well to play well here, and that helps you going to the U.S. Open.

Hartford, I can't say, I've never played it. I know it's in the area here somewhere, but it really doesn't make any difference. We get into an airplane anyways to go on, so it doesn't make a difference.

Q. You've had some memorable battles with Tiger, won some, lost some. There's talk now that he's not playing like he was a few years ago. How do you see him? What do you think of all that stuff again?

ERNIE ELS: (Laughs). That's the first time I've heard that.

Has he ever been in a slump? I don't know.

He'll be in fine form next week, I'm sure. He's just that type of person and player that he's going to be ready next week. That's why I need to get myself ready because I've got to play my best stuff next week and hope for the best.

We all have got to do our own thing getting ourselves ready. Tiger takes a couple of weeks off. I play here this week. Other players play here this week, other players don't play. It's all to get yourself ready for next week but Tiger will be ready for next week.

It seems like he's got it all bottled at the moment, put it that way. He's fine.

Q. When you won here previously, you had Ricci Roberts on the bag. When did you bring him back and what does he bring to your game?

ERNIE ELS: Well, we broke up for two years. We broke up in '98 at the end and then I took him back last year.

So, in June last year I brought him back before the U.S. Open. What he brings to me - he speaks my language. We kind of can relate to each other a little bit, his background, where he comes from, Johannesburg, I come from Johannesburg. He's quite aggressive at times. He's quite experienced. He knows my game better than anybody else.

Basically, he can talk to me in ways where other people might not speak to me, and that helps me sometimes. He really knows by now the way I'm thinking, the way I play. So we have a good relationship.

Q. I would guess that you probably feel you're a better player than you were five years ago, but that it's also tougher to win majors. If that's the case, is that frustrating that you think you're better than you used to be but not getting the results you want?

ERNIE ELS: I'm definitely a better player than I was five years ago. I think I might have scrambled the ball better around the golf course five years ago than I do now, but I feel I hit more greens, I hit more fairways. I'm more in control of my swing and my ball flight.

So, basically, yeah. I might not make as many putts as I used to, but I'm a streaky putter.

Yeah, I feel like I'm a much better player. As you say, I have not won a major in five years and I've had quite a few chances, but guys have just played better than I have, and especially Tiger. I think it's fair to say that it's a lot tougher to win a major now than it was five years ago, before he got to his peak. It's one of those things, man, you've just got to play better.

End of FastScripts....