DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 2, 2002

Ernie Els

GORDON SIMPSON: Good morning and welcome to the second Dunhill Links Championship.

Ernie, welcome to St. Andrews. The last time I left Scotland you had the Claret Jug under your arms so presumably you have a great affinity with the country, as well as winning here previously.

ERNIE ELS: Absolutely. I love coming to Scotland. I just Love the way you have to play golf up here. People are very friendly. They know the game of golf very well. I just love playing up here. I came here in 1987 for the Links Trophy, and ever since then, I just love playing links golf.

We have a good record as a Dunhill Cup team around St. Andrews here, and that has helped me play links golf a lot better, also. Whenever the Open Championship came around, I always felt comfortable playing on links courses. The people make you feel very warm and welcome.

So, you know, that's maybe why I've had a pretty nice record up here.

GORDON SIMPSON: Of courses last year, you were very close to an individual -- Paul Lawrie's putt sunk you at the end.

ERNIE ELS: I saw the highlights later on obviously. I still can't believe that putt he made. That's why golf is such a great game. You might go try that putt one hundred times over and you'll never make it, but he did it at the right moment. The occasion for him was perfect, obviously, and he drilled it. I would have loved to have won that tournament last year, you know, the first tournament of it's kind up here and it would have been a very special win, but it didn't turn out my way.

Q. Is this your last Order of Merit event?

ERNIE ELS: It might be. You know, my wife is -- how can I say -- is very pregnant at the moment. (Laughs). The date is next week, and hopefully she hangs on this week because if she doesn't, I'll be out of here. I want to be there for the birth, obviously. But I know she'll hang on. My dad is actually looking more forward to this week than I am. It would be very cool for him.

Obviously, you know, families come first, and it will be very tough for me to keep playing after the birth of the baby.

Q. Will you do a Mickelson and leave the course if necessary if you get the phone call?

ERNIE ELS: Well, it's pretty important for me to be there, but as I say, I think my wife's going to hang on. (Laughs).

Q. How much of the Ryder Cup did you watch?

ERNIE ELS: I watched almost every shot. I was down in South Africa. Actually, my mom was looking after me for a couple of days. Myself and my mother, we were watching the Ryder Cup. I watched almost every shot. It was a great event, obviously. The finish was unbelievable.

So, you know, that's why it's such a special, special event. You've got the best players in the world playing against each other, match-play, and match-play brings out the best, I think. It was a great event.

Q. Which side were you supporting?

ERNIE ELS: I was sitting on the fence. (Laughter.)

That's a tough question for me to answer, as you know. Yeah, that's that. (Laughter.) The truth will come out later maybe.

Q. Is it your target to top the Order of Merit on both sides of the Atlantic?

ERNIE ELS: It was never a goal of mine to start the year off. When I started the year off, it was not a goal of mine to win the Order of Merit. It was to win golf tournaments. Whenever I entered a golf tournament, I wanted to be ready to play, to try and have a chance to win, and that was my goal. Obviously, to compete in major championships this year, I think that was our goal starting the year.

Obviously, when you do well in the tournaments that you want to play, you're going to have chances in Order of Merit races. Obviously, myself and Retief have got quite a nice battle at the moment. As I said previously, with our new addition coming, it's going to be tough for me to really concentrate on playing golf.

I'd like to see after this week. I really want to play well this week and see how good I can do this week, and I think we'll take it from there. Obviously, at the moment, I think it's only 13 Euros between the two of us. It's kind of a dead heat at the moment. Retief has been playing awesome. He's going to play a couple more tournaments than I am, so it will be tough to beat him.

We'll see how it goes. I haven't totally made up my mind yet, but at the moment it seems like this will be my last event.

Q. How important is physical fitness to your overall performance on the golf course?

ERNIE ELS: Well, I'm not a gym freak. You know, I look after myself a lot more than I have done in the past. I just think it's -- I feel it's necessary. I feel better if I've been in the gym or I've been on the bicycle or whatever it might be.

It can't be bad for you; put it this way. (Laughs) But I think the way the players are coming up, the younger players, you look at the Ty Tryons or the Charles Howells and Adam Scotts, they are physically strong and they look after themselves and they are in the gym all the time. So I guess that's the future of the game.

I just feel that it's -- I feel good after I've done it, put it that way.

Q. Have you seen the young South African?

ERNIE ELS: Eugene? Yeah, I actually went out with him a couple of holes yesterday evening. Played five or six holes. Eugene I think was on the 17th tee. I've actually heard of him in South Africa. He's obviously a great talent. He needs good backing behind him to obviously get to where he wants to go, and I'm sure somebody is looking after him at the moment. You know, that's great. I think -- I saw him this morning again when I was hitting balls, and it seems like he was under Robert Baker's wing there. It seems like he's got everything. He's got a great swing, he's strong and he's young. So there's no reason why he shouldn't be good.

Q. How do you prepare for playing three courses in one week?

ERNIE ELS: Well, you've actually got to do a little bit more work than normally. You've got to come to the week a little bit earlier and play three practice rounds where normally we only play one practice round and a Pro-Am. So you have to putt a little more attention to detail than we normally do. But for that kind of a check, they can give us five courses to play, you know. It's a pretty good incentive to do a bit more work.

Q. Has the Ryder Cup performance boosted the Presidents Cup next year?

ERNIE ELS: It's two totally different events. You've got to actually -- I'm the wrong guy to ask. For us, we are going to be very serious when it comes down to South Africa. As an International Team, we play it every two years. For us, it's a pretty big event.

For the Americans after this last -- I'm sure they want to play a little bit better against us and not lose. So they will be pretty fired up to play it, too. Who knows, you know. Hopefully they just bring their strongest side because we need to play against their strongest side in South Africa, and that will really enhance the Presidents Cup in a way where it should be. If we want to rival the Ryder Cup, we need to have two of the strongest teams in the Presidents Cup play against each other.

Hopefully, that will happen. Only time will tell, you know. It's November next year. A lot of golf has to be played and a lot of things can happen in the world so, you've just got to wait and see. Hopefully they bring their strongest side because we definitely will have our best team there.

Q. Is there any concern that the Americans won't bring their strongest side to South Africa?

ERNIE ELS: Well, you know, I think it's always a concern. You look on the map where South Africa is and where America is at that time of year, so there's always that bit of concern.

In South Africa, we would like to have the Presidents Cup a week later because we've got the World Cup final -- we are pretty much going to be in that final -- (Laughter.) We would like to be there.

So, to be honest with you, it's a long way to travel. I know that Sun City will be happy to make their field a bit bigger, if guys want to come for two weeks, they can come for two weeks and get paid pretty well.

Q. (Inaudible.)

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, that's what I heard yesterday.

Q. Would you like to face Europe at any stage?

ERNIE ELS: Well, not right now; I'm sure they are pretty high at the moment. They are the world champions at the moment. They are, because America beat us pretty well last time.

That would be a great event, but how are you going to put that in somewhere? That probably will never happen, but it would be great.

GORDON SIMPSON: Thanks very much for coming in.

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