Els and nothing else
By KEN FIDLIN -- Toronto Sun
GEORGE, South Africa -- The silence was deafening. It is impossible for several thousand people to occupy such a small area and not make a sound. Not a cough, not a sneeze, not even the soft noise of shuffling feet. Ernie Els might have been all by himself and in many ways, he was.
At the end of a dismal afternoon of Presidents Cup matches for the International side, Els was all that stood between the Americans and a total blowout.
He was positioned behind the 18th green facing one of those golf shots that always separate the great ones from the ordinary. His ball was sitting in wiry rough and he was facing a delicate pitch to the hole location four feet above his feet and 26 feet away.
His U.S. opponents, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco had an eagle putt of their own, in a desperate comeback attempt to halve the match.
All four other American teams had lain waste to the Internationals. It had been a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping and now they wanted to deprive the Internationals of their one small reason to smile.
The Yanks were trying to get greedy and grab another half-point in a match that had been in International possession right from the start. As if the afternoon message from the United States wasn't powerful enough already.
Then, unleashing that easy, powerful swing, Els popped the ball high in the air. It settled ever so gently on the green a few feet from the pin and rolled serenely into the cup for a match-ending eagle.
One second, dead silence. The next, pandemonium. The symbolism of Els slamming the door wasn't lost on the boisterous crowd, largely composed of South Africans.
This is Ernie's show, this long-awaited Presidents Cup in his homeland and if he has to pull the team up by its boot straps, then all the better.
"It was a lift, for sure," said Els' teammate, Mike Weir, who was among the gallery beside the 18th green. "Not very much went right for us (yesterday afternoon) but maybe that's a bright spot we can rally around."
Weir himself had been a bright spot in the morning game. He and Aussie Robert Allenby polished off Mickelson and David Toms, 3-up with a hole to play.
"I couldn't vouch for a better player," Allenby said. "Mike was rock-solid."
But in the afternoon, Weir was paired with Vijay Singh, who has not played nearly to his potential here. In the wind yesterday afternoon, Singh sprayed it all over the lot and left Weir in some tough spots. They were buried 5-and-4 by the red-hot putters wielded by Justin Leonard and Jim Furyk.
There really isn't much defence when opponents start draining a succession of 20-footers.
The problem was exacerbated as the wind started to howl at The Links at Fancourt. Because they had grabbed the early advantage, the Americans could sit back and not take chances while the Internationals were forced to try to make something happen.
With the wind blowing, it forced them into many mistakes and that can be tough on the psyche, especially in alternate-shot format where players hate to let each other down.
But nobody's giving up. The Internationals are down three points -- 9 1/2 to 6 1/2 -- with more than half the matches yet to play.
"We just had a very good team meeting," Els said about an hour after the matches concluded. "The spirit is very high. there's a lot of golf left. We have ourselves in a little bit of a hole but it's not over by a long shot.
"The guys are not down. We've got a lot of Aussies with us so there's a lot of cockiness in the team.
"We're having a little barbecue tonight at my house (it's not a house but a mansion on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean) and we'll get the spirits up. Limit of three beers a person. We just have to grind it out (today) and make it close and come-what-may on Sunday."
Nobody is under more self-induced pressure to deliver than Els. This is his party and he doesn't want to let down his teammates or his countrymen.
Given the reverence in which he is held, that's nigh unto impossible. In the end, it will depend on his teammates and just how strong their will is to not let Els down.
