Els laments missed opportunities

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Ernie Els won two U.S. Opens in early in his career, in 1994 and '97, but has added only one major since then, the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield, Scotland. His 2004 season was a particularly sour one, finishing in the top-10 in all four majors but securing no further major titles.

So if you're wondering if Els, 40, thinks his trophy case should be a little more crowded, well, he'll tell you straight on: yes.

How many U.S. Opens did he envision for himself after his '97 victory at Congressional CC?

"Well, quite a few, I would say, after that," he said. "Obviously Oakmont was great and Congressional was good.  If we could have played those two venues a bit more often, maybe I could have had a better chance. But we went to Olympic, I didn't have a good time there. And Pinehurst, didn't have a good time there either. And then 2000 came here, and finished second, although I was never really in the ballgame.  And I haven't really done too much since then.  I might have had a couple of topâ¿¿10's or topâ¿¿5's since then, but not really something really spectacular.

"You know, I had a great start to my major campaign.  I've won two, won another Open Championship, but I haven't really capitalized on the chances I've had."

-- Dave Shedloski