Major Accomplishment Will Help Els Fill the Gap

ORLANDO, Fla. -- As he prepares to compete against Tiger Woods for the first time this year in a stroke-play event, Ernie Els says he’s closing the gap on the No. 1 player in the world.

“In some ways,” Els said.

Or maybe not, he also said, but we should find out soon.

“I’ve won ... and the more you win, I think, the more you close the gap a little bit. You know, he’s come out and he’s won himself. So it’s hard to say. I know his big goals are to win majors and so are mine, so I think that’s probably where it will happen.

“It’s the majors where you’re going to hang everything out. So I think that’s where you’re going to probably measure the gap closing or not.”

In that case, better stow yardsticks for three weeks and break them out again at Augusta National for the Masters. But if you can’t wait that long, then check out this week’s $4.5-million Bay Hill Invitational, where Woods is trying to win for the fourth consecutive year and Els is trying to see how close he has come to Woods.

According to the rankings, it’s a two-player race, but it’s not all that close.

Woods has the No. 1 ranking at 16.70 and Els is a distant second at 9.42. In fact, the difference between Woods and Els is the same as the difference between Els and No. 56 Loren Roberts.

But beginning Thursday at Bay Hill Golf Club & Lodge, Els has an opportunity to cut into those numbers.

First, though, it has been a long time since they’ve even seen each other. They were on the same driving range three weeks ago at La Costa at the match play event, but they didn’t cross paths and Els was gone after one round. Woods went on to win it.

Before that, the last tournament they both played was the Tour Championship nearly five months ago, when neither one of them won. Vijay Singh did. Woods was seventh, Els 13th.

It’s only March, but Woods and Els are already at the top of their games.

Els began this year with consecutive PGA Tour victories in Hawaii and won twice more while Woods stayed on the sideline because of arthroscopic knee surgery in December.

Els’ fast start caught Woods’ attention.

“I think it got everybody’s attention,” Woods said Tuesday.

“I knew, deep down in my heart, that I could not compete against him at that moment because I wasn’t physically ready.

“But, competitively, I wanted to get back out there. I wanted to compete. I wanted to mix it up with these boys.”

He started mixing it up soon enough. Five weeks ago, Woods came back at Torrey Pines and won it, then was fifth at Riviera and won again in the match play event at La Costa. In only three tournaments, Woods is third on the worldwide money list with $2,031,000, trailing only Mike Weir, who has played six times, and Els, who has played seven and leads with $2,650,252.

A three-time major champion after his victory in the British Open at Muirfield last July, Els has run into Woods on several occasions with majors on the line -- most notably in 2000, when Woods won the U.S. Open and British Open with Els the runner-up. Els also was second in the 2000 Masters, which Singh won.

In 2001, Els was sixth when Woods won the Masters and fifth last year when Woods won for the third time at Augusta National. His first was in 1997 when he was 21. Last year, Els was 24th at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black on Long Island, where Woods won, but Woods was 28th when Els won at Muirfield.

Add it all up and you seem to have a rivalry, Woods said.

“I guess you might be able to say we are at the beginning stages of it,” he said. “I do have to say that if there’s any player in the world that I’ve competed against more down the stretch, it’s him.

“I thoroughly enjoy it. I think we both enjoy it. First of all, we have a wonderful rapport. So even if one another loses, it’s still one of your friends [who] beat you. But still, you don’t want one of your buddies beating you either.”

Els won his first major title, the 1994 U.S. Open, two year before Woods turned pro, but Els has been hearing about a possible date for a rivalry with Woods for quite a while.

“I’ve been seeing it since 1997,” Els said Tuesday. “When did Tiger win his first major, 1997? It’s been on-and-off with me, hasn’t it? I kind of went away and I think David Duval stepped in and some other players also stepped in.

“But the real head-to-head rivalry, I think we’ve got that. We’ve just got a guy that’s so much better.”

There’s that gap talk again. It’s a continuing campaign to close it, says Els, who credits his victory at Muirfield with turning his career onto a faster path and another, higher level. Els blew a three-shot lead on the back nine on Sunday at Muirfield but wound up winning a four-man playoff with Thomas Levet, Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby.

Els says he has rededicated himself to closing the gap on Woods, maybe even knocking him out of the No. 1 ranking that Woods has held for 187 weeks.

“I just feel that if I don’t step up now, I probably never will,” Els said. “I’m at a time of my career where I’ve got to really go for it or I’m not going to go at all.”

But where does Woods fit into that?

“I cannot think about Tiger when I’m on the golf course,” Els said. “I’ve got to think about my next shot.”

It’s a good mind-set. For Els, when you’re talking Tiger, it’s all about taking your best shot.

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Two at the Top

This week’s Bay Hill Invitational will mark the first meeting of the year in stroke play between Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, the players generally regarded as the world’s top two golfers. Their records in 2003:

*--* WOODS ELS EVENTS 3 7 VICTORIES 2 4 TOP-10 FINISHES 3 6 EARNINGS $2,031,000 $2,650,252 SCORING AVERAGE 68.75 67.00

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