BETHESDA, Md. — A friend approached Ernie Els after he completed a lengthy session on the practice range Tuesday morning.
“They’re going to interview you?” the man asked. “Got anything to say?”
Els smiled, patted him on the shoulder and stepped into a golf cart bound for the media center. Yes, the last man to tame Congressional in a major had much to say.
Els is hoping for a repeat of 1997, when he came to Congressional for the U.S. Open with no expectations. His game, he recalled, was on “shaky ground,” a result of missing the cut days earlier at the Kemper Open at nearby TPC Avenel.
“I did a lot of work here at the course,” Els recalled. “I just loved what I saw. And through the practice days, I found my swing and my putting stroke. I went from having no confidence to a little bit of hope. I didn’t screw up too badly in the first round. And then it started happening for me.”
After opening with 71, he posted 67-69-69 to beat Colin Montgomerie by a shot.
Congressional made him an honorary member — “now I’m one of the guys,” he said — and he hopes to get a push from the friendly faces.
“The members, when I played No. 10 (Monday), they were going nuts,” Els said. “So I think it will be a boost. I need all the help I can get.”
Els was primed to win last year’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, tied atop the leaderboard with eventual champion Graeme McDowell until a bogey-double bogey stretch on Nos. 9 and 10. He finished third.
His manager, Andrew “Chubby” Chandler, recalled Els was so down, he barely stopped long enough to be consoled.
“He was on the plane so fast,” Chandler recalled. “And then the trouble is he has 10 hours on the plane (back to his home in London) to think about it.”
Those 10 hours devolved into 10-plus months of letdown. Other than winning the South African Open, Els said he has “done nothing” since Pebble Beach and described his play in 2011 as “atrocious.”
“They say when you get older, your patience gets better,” Els said. “I don’t know.”
“The Big Easy” is 41 and recently told the Washington Post that after winning his second U.S. Open in 1997, he would have expected to have “at least” eight major victories by now.
His third and most recent came at the 2002 British Open. He has 64 professional victories, but his six runner-up finishes in majors will eat at him forever.
Asked what it takes to win a major, Els replied: “It’s belief. You have to have a clear picture of lifting that trophy … and you have to keep believing that it’s your week.”
Does he have that belief now?
Els, who has not broken 70 in a PGA Tour round since April, couldn’t help but answer honestly.
“I want to say yes,” he offered.
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
