South African Els uses Wachovia tournament as warm-up event

CHARLOTTE: Ernie Els (pic) believes his second successive appearance at the Wachovia Championship could provide an ideal warm-up for next month's US Open at Oakmont.

The Quail Hollow Club, a tree-lined par-72 layout of 7,442 yards with three-inch thick rough, is running fast and firm in typical major championship fashion.

“It is the kind of golf course that I really like and I'm looking forward to it,” South African Els said on his official website.

“I had a bit of an up-and-down few days here last year but, despite that, I remember thinking straight after the tournament had finished that I wanted to come back again in 2007.

“In many ways, it reminded me a lot of the old traditional-like courses that we play major championships on. It asks a lot of tough questions about your game.”

Els, who opened with consecutive 71s at Quail Hollow last year before falling back into a tie for 38th, knows this week will place a premium on accurate driving.

“It's probably one of the toughest golf courses on the PGA Tour right now,” the twice US Open champion said.

“It's almost 7,500 yards and the fairways aren't that wide, so you need distance and accuracy off the tee to give yourself a decent shot at the flags.”

Els, who finished second in his most recent PGA Tour start at the Heritage Classic three weeks ago, feels putting is the only component in his game holding him back.

“My putting took up a lot of my attention last week but there's not much wrong,” the world number five said.

“Once I start seeing the ball going in the hole, it'll be fine. In some ways it's a confidence thing, really.

“The rest of my game is in good shape. I heard from a friend last week that the great teacher John Jacobs had seen me play recently and he thought I was swinging the club better than I have for many years, which is good to hear.”

Els, who won the US Open when it was last played at Oakmont in 1994, faces one of the strongest fields of the year at Quail Hollow.

Tiger Woods makes his first tournament appearance since tying for second at last month's Masters, and 26 other members of the world's top 30 are competing, including the entire top 10.

Second-ranked Jim Furyk, who has always loved playing at Quail Hollow, is back to defend the title he won last year in a play-off with South African Trevor Immelman.

“This is played on a very, very good golf course, it gets a very, very strong field and always has a very big purse,” Furyk said of the US$6.4mil event.

“Those three ingredients make a pretty darn good golf tournament.”

Also playing this week are 2005 champion Vijay Singh, who leads the inaugural FedExCup points race and has triumphed twice on the PGA Tour this season, world number three Phil Mickelson and fourth-ranked Adam Scott of Australia. – Reuters