Els searches for confidence in bid to end major drought

Ernie Els may be nicknamed the "Big Easy" but the South African was not about to take it easy on himself today as he reflected on his career. "Not winning a major since 2002 doesn't sit well with me," admitted Els, who claimed the last of his three major titles in the Open Championship at Muirfield six years ago.

Back on Scottish soil for the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns which gets under way today, Els labelled some of his golf this year as "clueless".

However, the South African insists he is back on track and keen to reproduce the form which has earned him more than 50 tournament victories worldwide. The 38-year-old said: "By no means have I had a bad career, but to have a start like I had... I felt like I was right on track then.

"This year I had a very bad US Masters and missed the cut there, the US Open I hit the ball as good as I have all year but I was clueless on the greens. At the Open Championship, I shot 80 on the first day and at the US PGA – I didn't have a good one there either.

"But that's why you make changes, to try to find answers and get better because I feel as healthy and as fit as ever and my swing is really good – so there's a lot of things going for me.

"I just need to get things going my way and that's basically momentum. That's what Padraig [Harrington] has got at the moment. The way he won the Open was incredible golf on the final nine holes and at the US PGA, getting up and down all the time, that's momentum and a lot of confidence. He's riding a nice wave whereas I've just had a lack of confidence on the golf course this year and I am working on that at the moment."

Els was one of the players expected to make the most of Tiger Woods' absence. The American revealed earlier this week that it could be 2010 before he feels fully fit following the fourth operation on his left knee after his US Open triumph at Torrey Pines, and Els believes the world No 1 is doing the right thing by not setting a deadline for his return. Els suffered a similar injury in 2005 and added: "Your left knee is very important in the golf swing and I still felt it at least a year, a year and a half after the surgery.

"Every time someone asked about my knee I said it was fine but it wasn't. I think it was the Open at Hoylake in 2006 when I finally felt I was getting over it. Whenever the weather was warm I would feel comfortable, but whenever it was cold it was horrible.

"Tiger can probably come back earlier but he wants to be 100 per cent ready so who knows? I was very stubborn. I wanted to come back as soon as possible and set a date for the event at Sun City and that was definitely too early. The doctors down there saw my knee and thought I was crazy to play, it was so swollen."

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