Johnnie Walker Classic: Ernie Els defended his hectic schedule as he prepared for his first tournament since his disappointing Masters display in the Johnnie Walker Classic starting in Beijing today. Els has made no secret of his desire to add the US Masters and USPGA titles to his two US Open victories and 2002 Open triumph to complete a career Grand Slam.
But after narrowly missing out on chances to win all four majors last year, the world number three finished a distant 47th at Augusta earlier this month, surviving the cut on the mark of four over and ending up 22 shots behind the eventual winner Tiger Woods.
Such a poor display was all the more disappointing coming so soon after back-to-back European Tour titles in Dubai and Qatar, where the South African came from behind on both occasions with some stunning golf.
And the European number one has come in for criticism in some quarters for playing too much golf in too many far-flung locations before the Masters, an accusation Els was quick to deny.
"Obviously my game wasn't too good at Augusta, I had a couple of technical faults, the posture wasn't too good and I've spoken to David Leadbetter since then," admitted Els, who has played 10 tournaments this year from South Africa to Australia, Dubai to Qatar and Hawaii to Florida. "There are a couple of things I have to work on. It's a bit unfortunate because I was playing a lot of good golf but when I got sick before the Masters that was bad timing and I wasn't quite myself.
"It is easy to blame it on the schedule and it seems like, especially in America, the journalists have been playing a lot on that. But I've done what I'm doing for 12 years now and my record is not too bad. I haven't been sick like that for many years and it was just a bug, a virus, and one of those things.
"The travelling is the hard part . . . but coming from South Africa it is natural to do what I am doing. We have always travelled and I have always found it hard just to concentrate on playing in just one place."
Els has also received the backing of Adam Scott. The Australian, who finished 33rd at Augusta, believes Els did not deserve the criticism which came his way after the much-anticipated battle between the game's big four - Woods, Vijay Singh, Els and Phil Mickelson - failed to materialise.
"The guy had an off week," said Scott. "It's his poorest finish in a major in about seven years and he's still made the cut. He finished way down the field but that's how this game goes . . . He took some criticism because he travels so much, but that's also part of the reason why Ernie Els is as good a player as he is."
Another player coming off the back of a disappointing Masters is Thomas Bjorn, although the Dane is not looking at it purely in terms of his final position of 25th. Bjorn was four shots off the lead in third place after the third round, but despite slumping to a closing 81 he is focusing on the positives. "I have to take a lot of good from the week," Bjorn said. "I played one of the top courses in the world and performed well for three days." Peter Lawrie is the only Irish player in the field.
