Thoughts on Carnoustie

By Bill Fields
Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images July 27, 2007

A golf writer covering a major championship has plenty of tools at his disposal these days, including start-to-finish television coverage, computerized statistics and stenographer-generated transcripts of the post-mortems. A few reporters routinely walk the course, in particular to eyeball what Tiger Woods is doing, and the final pairings at a major always draw a crowd of journalists, but the reality of having to keep up with everything makes hoofing it everywhere impractical. There are blogs to write and calls to make, and only a fool wouldn't acknowledge that an air-conditioned media center is a lovely thing on a sweltering day.

There being neither air conditioning, nor the need for it most of the time in Scotland, where a native's wee breeze is a visitor's gale, the 136th British Open seemed like a good place to go old-school. Not that I was wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches or anything, but I saw more strokes played in person than I have in a while -- all 279 of them, in fact, executed by Ernie Els, who tied for fourth place, two shots out of the playoff won by Padraig Harrington over Sergio Garcia.

Golf never seems more like a pass-fail test than at the majors, and the fine line between success and something less than that was etched throughout the fairways, greens, gorse, burns and out-of-bounds of Carnoustie GL, the bruising course on Scotland's Angus Coast. Plenty of players could ponder what might have been, not the least of whom was Els, the big, strong South African who is trying to work his way back to the top of the marquee.

I arrived at Carnoustie intent on following someone for 72 holes, and no one's swing is easier on the eyes than Ernie's. As veteran instructor John Redman told me a few weeks ago when our conversation turned to the topic of smooth swings, "He looks like he's cutting cake out there."

According to one of the betting shops, Ladbrokes, Els was a 12-1 favorite to win the British Open before it began, second only to Woods' 3-1 odds. Els is 37, and along with other golfers competing against Woods, his track record is inextricably linked to the man who casts a sequoia's shadow over the sport. Woods sometimes plays otherworldly golf, but everyone is competing in the same universe. The best thing Els and the others can do is approach the challenge like a student who gets the toughest teacher in school: He knows he's not going to ace a test very often, but when it happens, the grade is more satisfying.

For the past couple of years, though, Els hasn't been concerned with the Tiger Curve -- he has had enough to worry about. His last major victory was five years ago, in the British Open at Muirfield. In 2004 Phil Mickelson foiled his great play in the Masters, and countryman Retief Goosen seized upon his rotten conclusion to the U.S. Open at Shinnecock. A week after the 2005 British Open, which he lost in a playoff to Todd Hamilton, Els tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while vacationing. The road back hasn't been easy, and the first two majors of 2007 were a bust for Els: He missed the cut at the Masters and finished T-51 at Oakmont.

Els, Robert Karlsson and Lucas Glover were in "Game 32" Thursday afternoon. The temperature was in the 50s, and there was little wind. Els walked onto the first tee wearing black slacks and a pale, greenish-yellow crewneck sweater the color of Key lime pie. There were a few dozen fans in the grandstand to the left of the tee, including a trio of men wearing caps in the colors of the South African flag. The main leader board, about 100 yards away atop the large grandstand adjacent to the 18th hole, showed Paul McGinley of Ireland leading the championship at four under through eight holes. Woods was three under through 11.

In less than 15 minutes Els made up some ground. His tee shot with an iron found the right rough, and his approach the right bunker. But Els' 30-foot explosion shot was perfect, landing in the fringe and rolling in like a putt. If there is a pleasant way to start a major, Els did it.

He drove poorly at the second but recovered to save par. Routine pars at Nos. 4 and 5 were followed by a birdie at the par-5 sixth. Recording every shot was Els' wife, Liezl, who I first noticed by the fourth green. Most partners are constant presences watching their men play golf, but Liezl does more than watch. A tall, sandy-haired woman who married Ernie in 1998, she has been plotting the details of Ernie's major-championship rounds since the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla CC in Louisville.

Using a mechanical pencil on a 5-by-8-inch notebook, she records every shot played by her husband and his fellow competitors on diagrams of the holes that she has sketched earlier.

Liezl got the idea from the British artist Harold Riley when Els and Nick Faldo were playing a match at Leopard Creek in South Africa in the mid-1990s. "He told us -- it was Brenna [Cepelak] and me -- that it would be a fun job for us to record every round they played," Liezl explained. "I knew I couldn't do it every tournament, so I decided to do it at the majors. It's still quite a stack, spread over three houses. I'm trying to get them all in one place."

She downplayed her efforts -- "Harold's work is beautiful; mine is just a record," she said -- and volunteered that Ernie never looks at the notebooks. When I suggested they might fetch a nice sum for a favorite charity some day, she said she would keep the archive in the family. "It's a keepsake, something I'll pass on to my children [Samantha, 8, and Ben, 4]. I'm a little worried about them fading away, since they're in pencil, but somebody told me there is something I can spray on them to preserve them."

Liezl was accompanied around Carnoustie by Els' business manager, Phil Cotton, and personal trainer, Josh Salzmann. Salzmann is a Massachusetts native who has lived for two decades in England. Prince Andrew is a former client. Els is a fairly new devotee of the gym. "He really started after he hurt his knee. He likes feeling strong," said Salzmann. "Everybody likes to feel strong. The trick is getting them to want to do the work. I stay on his case, in a nice way. Ernie's an athlete. He could have been a basketball player, could have been a wrestler."

Salzmann travels to most tournaments with Els, and he enjoys the relaxed pace of the sport he is still learning. When Lucas Glover was searching for his ball on the 12th hole Thursday, Salzmann wanted to know what the rule was, how long you were allowed to look for your ball. Els' work with Salzmann obviously has paid off. The best proof might not be the swings he makes, but how he gets in a catcher's crouch to read putts, and sometimes just when killing time on the greens.

Els is different from most people, who seem larger on TV (Jack Nicklaus being a classic example) than they do in person. Els looks bigger in person, particularly when viewed from behind. Listed at 6-feet-3, 210 pounds, he is a tall brick of a man whose size is all the more arresting in the context of his swing's pace.

Every generation an elite golfer seems to come along whose swing personifies effortless, syrupy power. Julius Boros was that way. "I was playing once with Julius, and he hit this great 2-iron," John Redman told me. "I asked him what would happen if he hit one hard. He said, 'I just did. If I swing any harder, I lose control.' That was a very important lesson."

With Els, the prelude isn't quite as graceful as the performance. In his pre-shot machinations he can look the slightest bit awkward when he settles into his stance and adjusts his upper body, seeming to pay particular attention to his right shoulder. When he lines up a shot from behind, Els sights the target, taps the ground with the clubhead hard enough so you can hear, points the club at the target and usually taps the ground again before assuming his stance.

Els' ball-striking never has been statistically astounding. Since 2001 on the PGA Tour, his best driving-accuracy rank is his current one of 143rd. He was 28th in greens in regulation in 2003, but otherwise has not been ranked higher than 83rd. His putting has been better but not fantastic: ninth in 2004, 34th this year, 35th in 2002. It would be his frustration at Carnoustie, although with 26, 29, 26 and 29 putts, he ranked sixth for the tournament. Els' lag putting was outstanding, as he frequently left himself with little work after first putts, even those of 30 or 40 feet. He didn't three-putt once all week.