Golf: Tiger stands in way of Els
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.ERNIE ELS has the chance to replace Tiger Woods as the world No 1 by winning his second tournament in a week at the US Players' Championship, which starts here today.
While Woods works on peaking for the US Masters in two weeks' time, Els showed he is already in prime form by winning the Bay Hill Invitational last week, outscoring Woods by 12 strokes over the final two rounds.
But Els insisted: "Tiger should be regarded as the best player in the world. I am right up there and there are a lot of other players right up there, but his record is awfully good. I think you can only judge how good a player he is by his performances in the big championships like the majors and this tournament."
The 25th Players tournament has a first prize of $720,000 (pounds 445,000) and one of the best fields of the year. Its only drawback is that the first "official" major of the year follows in a fortnight.
That is not a problem for Colin Montgomerie, who has a better record at the TPC at Sawgrass than at Augusta National. Monty was second to Fred Couples two years ago and has not been worse than 14th in the last four years. "This is as major a golf tournament as it gets," Montgomerie said. "I don't know who classifies these things, but if there were five majors this would be the fifth. There are certain shots that have to be hit on this course, and that plays into my hands."
A suggestion from John Daly for Woods and Fuzzy Zoeller, whose crass remarks about the Masters champion created a racial controversy that is still rumbling, to play a practice round at Augusta got a cautious welcome from Woods.
"It would be more of a public relations thing," Woods said. "I will be getting ready for a major. If Fuzzy wants to get ready for a major with me that's fine."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments