News & Tours - GolfDigest.com
Just ask Ernie Els, who until this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational hadn't made a cut in America since the Deutsche Bank Championship last September. Els, who turned 45 in October, arrived at Bay Hill Club with a brittle psyche, the product of four missed cuts in a row to begin the year. When you have never missed more than two straight since joining the tour in 1994, you naturally start rifling through the medicine cabinet for that emergency supply of confidence only to find that, unfortunately, it comes neither in pill or liquid... "My friends back home were telling me what a great job I have not having to work weekends," Els said with a laugh Friday at Bay Hill. What he did lose was his, well, easiness, the flow of his swing and the rhythm of good golf that a player feels without trying. On Tuesday Els opted to practice at nearby Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, and he came across a familiar face on the driving range. Former tour player Larry Rinker, who only three weeks ago had accepted a job there as director of instruction, was beating balls. "I've known Larry … we go back about 20-something years," Els said. We just started talking about different things in the game, the swing, the putting … and he really helped me. " "I was hitting balls on the far side of the range, and he pulled up in a golf cart and said,. Source: www.golfdigest.com
