Close Doesn’t Cut It for Els at the Majors

They call Ernie Els “The Big Easy” because nothing seems to faze him.

This year, however, Els’ moniker is teetering toward “uneasy.”

Fabulous wealth and success no longer define golf’s stars. They still make boatloads of money -- you should see Greg Norman’s boat -- but the great ones play for posterity, and on this front, this year, Els’ game has come up about two inches short of the cup.

He starts the 86th PGA Championship this week at wind-whipped Whistling Straits hoping to throw a rope around the season’s last major and salvage something out of a year many guys would donate a kidney to have.

The South African has won twice on the PGA Tour, totaled $4,095,275 in earnings, ranks second in the world and is closing fast on No. 1 Tiger Woods.

Yet, if Els leaves a putt short Sunday to finish second again in a major, he may chew through the rubber on his putter handle.

Els doesn’t play for paychecks anymore, or pats on the back.

He’s 34, the winner of three majors, and all he can think about is winning more of them.

“Majors is what you are really after, what I’m really after,” Els said Tuesday after his practice round.

So far, 2004 might be best described as “the year that got away.”

Els had opportunities to win the first three majors this year -- and didn’t win any.

He finished second at the Masters when Phil Mickelson rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole for his first green jacket.

Els, on the practice tee in anticipation of a playoff, didn’t even see Mickelson’s dramatic shot -- and maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

Els trailed by two shots before the final round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y., before shooting 10-over 80 on one of the most punitive final day course setups in the history of majors. He tied for ninth.

The loss that really made Els fume, though, was last month’s British Open, when he missed an eight-foot birdie putt for victory on the final hole and then lost in a playoff to Todd Hamilton.

“I guess as long as I play the game, I’ll think about that putt,” Els said. “But, you know, it’s one of those things. That’s the game of golf.... It is a fine line that we walk on.”

Els was downhearted after his Troon swoon. He returned home to South Africa, took a couple of weeks off and “blew a little bit of steam off.”

He says he is refreshed now and ready to take on Pete Dye’s mystery-meat course alongside Lake Michigan.

One thing about golf, Els says, is that you have to be resilient.

“You lose more than you win,” he said, “and you’ve got to take your losses and move on. I think after the Open I was quite disappointed. I think you [reporters] saw that, and it’s tough for us to speak to you guys right after a tough loss like that. It’s tough to kind of get yourself together.”

Els, though, says he has refocused.

He dreams of becoming only the sixth player to win golf’s “career Grand Slam.”

To date, Els has claimed two U.S. Opens and a British, so he needs a PGA and a Masters to complete the set.

He has not fared particularly well in the PGA Championship -- he has only two top-10 finishes in 12 attempts -- and admits his frenetic, globe-crossing schedule probably leaves him a bit fatigued by mid-August.

Yet, Els sees Whistling Straits as a unique opportunity.

The course is only 5 years old and is anything but a traditional setup -- it has 1,400 bunkers to start with.

“Nobody’s really played this course in championship golf before, so everybody starts out fresh here,” he said. “Everybody is going to have a different game plan, so it’s going to be interesting to see.”

Also on Els’ side: No one player is dominating the game just now. In fact, the last nine majors have been won by nine different players.

“I’d love to win here, obviously, and then, you know, the Masters in April,” he said. “That would be my Cinderella story.”

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PGA Championship

* Where: Whistling Straits (7,514 yards, par 72), Kohler, Wis.

* When: Thursday-Sunday.

* TV: TNT (Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 8-10:30 a.m.) and Channel 2 (Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.).

* Last year: Shaun Micheel won at Oak Hill, beating Chad Campbell by two strokes.

* The course: Owned by Herb Kohler Jr. and designed by Pete Dye, the links-style course is the longest in major championship history, with three par fours at least 500 yards and the shortest par five at 569 yards. It was built on an abandoned military base and toxic dump site along Lake Michigan.