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Before the mikes were flipped on, the member had something to say to the 6-foot-3 South African.
“You know,” said the member, Jim Blanchard, “a lot of the guys are pulling for you.”
Ernie Els smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“Thanks,” he said, and then it was time to explain how one of the world’s most likable golfers spent the last four years trying to correct an unpleasant streak.
Els once was considered a member of golf’s elite, a natural favorite to win any major. He was powerful and smart, calculating and focused. Then, he stopped winning. He was surpassed by others, and Els’ name no longer was on the lips of commentators who thought that, yes, this one belongs to the big guy.
Els’ last major victory was in the 2002 British Open, a playoff win that now seems a lifetime ago — particularly when other members of golf’s elite, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, have combined to win eight majors since 2002.
The drought compelled the 38-year-old Els to tweak his swing, hire a golf coach and part ways with David Leadbetter, a British golf instructor who was Els’ shadow for 18 years.
“You know, I just wanted to get something different,” Els said Tuesday. “Get a different feel, get different words coming toward me.
“Obviously, it’s tough breaking up with a guy like Lead, but he’ll forever be a friend of mine. That’s the direction that I wanted to take, just to make a difference in my golf swing.”
Els hired Butch Harmon, who has revamped the swings of Woods, Mickelson and a slew of other golfers desperate to shake up their games. Els said that Harmon immediately noticed that Els’ posture was slipping, and his hips were turning too much.
“Everything was kind of collapsing at the top,” Els said.
So was his career. Forget majors. Els went nearly four years and 47 tournaments without any win on the PGA Tour. He had a triple bogey in the final round of the Dunhill Cup in December. Then he blew a final-round lead in Dubai in February.
Els and Harmon went to work. Els cut his tour schedule and moved his family from England to Florida. He said the moves were designed to refresh his career and cut distractions.
Last month, the moves paid off. Els overtook Mark Calcavecchia at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and gained his 16th PGA Tour win — the first since 2004.
“It was just really a relief,” he said Tuesday.
A few weeks ago, Els walked around Augusta National with a local caddie. Els didn’t play — he walked and listened, taking in what the caddie told him about the course’s weak spots and its temperamental greens.
“After 14 years here,” Els said, “you would think I know everything about Augusta. But he (the caddie) showed me exactly where the fall line is going. I’ve got a much better idea, more than any other years, where some of the putts are really going now.”
Still, the Masters remains Els’ tallest task. He never has won at Augusta; he finished second in 2000 and 2004.
Els is not yet convinced his swing change was the right move. He said it is a process that he expects to last through this year and possibly next.
“I still felt I wasn’t totally under control of the golf ball,” he said of his confidence during the Honda Classic. “And that’s not a great feeling to have.”
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