POIPU, Kauai - The rain came early here yesterday morning, but when it let up, Ernie Els crashed Tiger Woods' party like thunder and lit up the leader board like lightning at the MasterCard PGA Grand Slam. Els rains on Tiger's parade in Slam 'match'
Not that Tiger played poorly, mind you. I'm not sure he's really capable of that anymore. But the remarkable guy who usually cashes in at every opportunity came up a couple bucks short in the face of Els' onslaught on the front nine at the Poipu Bay Resort course.
Els, the U.S. Open champion, rained birdies on the soggy course and on the heads of the other three winners of golf's major tournaments. Davis Love III, the PGA champ, started fast with birdies on four of the first five holes, but his putter deserted him most of the day. Justin Leonard, who won the British Open, never got back in the running after shooting a 77 on Monday. He made a bagful of nifty shots to save par on a half-dozen holes.
But this Slam came down to a battle between Els and an admittedly under-the-weather Woods, who mastered the Masters in April. It wasn't match play, but it seemed like it at times. The final round also brought out the contrasting styles of the two players.
Woods has brought a refreshing presence to golf. He's exciting and galleries love him. Every time the guy hammers one of his 300-plus yard drives, you hear ooohs, ahhhs and sometimes laughter, as if to say, "that's unreal."
When he's going good, there's no one better or more fun to watch. But Tiger is hard on himself. He expects to make every putt, birdie every hole. And when he doesn't, it shows.
Els, on the other hand, always seems to go about his business like a man who has been there before. In this case, he had. Played the Grand Slam in 1994 and said he remembered a little bit about how the greens play.
HE cooly made birdies on the first, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes, made the turn at 31 and effectively put the Slam in his wallet along with the cool 400 grand that went with it. For a big guy, he has a velvet touch with the putter, and once he turned up the heat, the rest of the players never had a chance.
I remember watching Jack Nicklaus charge from off the leader board to win the Masters in 1986 with an electrifying run of birdies down the stretch at Augusta. Els' charge yesterday was not nearly as dramatic, but it was no less impressive.
I wouldn't have blamed Woods if he had taken his putter and tossed it in the rubbish bin. Curiously, he said in the press conference afterward that he didn't drive the ball well and never really gave himself a chance to put up low numbers.
But he narrowly missed birdie putts at six, seven, eight and nine and was clearly frustrated. He spanked his thigh with his cap after lipping out a four-footer for birdie at six and hung his head and let his putter drop as his birdie attempt at eight rolled just by the cup. Another putt for birdie at nine rolled wide and that was that.
"Down the stretch I started giving myself a few more chances, but by then it was pretty much over," Woods said.
That it was. Els caught Woods with his birdie at six, took the lead for good with another birdie at seven and never let up.
"With the rain this morning, I thought the greens were putting pretty smooth," Els said. "I felt good over the ball and my stroke felt pretty good. When you know where the grain is going it makes it a little easier. I just kept aiming where I thought the line was and it kept on going in. So it was pretty nice."