Ernie Els suffers putting nightmare at the Masters

No doubt to the amusement of many from afar, Ernie Els careened into a six-putt fiasco Thursday on the first hole of the Masters.

But to speak with Els afterward was to feel his despair.

In the few seemingly cathartic minutes during which he spoke before being whisked away practically in midsentence, Els referred to “snakes and stuff going up in your brain” and “a short (circuit) up there somewhere.”

“You just can’t do what you normally do; it’s unexplainable,” said Els, who has won four major championships. “A lot of people have stopped playing the game getting that feeling.”

After losing count as he set the tournament record with a 9 on the par-4 hole, Els finished with an 8-over 80 after leaving what he estimated overall were 15 short putts on greens.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said. “I can go to that putting green now and make 20 straight 3-footers. And then you get on the course and you feel a little different, and you can’t do what you normally do.”

Els didn’t use the term “yips,” a mental hurdle impairing a routine task.

But Els did use that word when he missed short putts at a tournament last year, and now he may be facing an insidious psychological adversary that is no laughing matter.

“I’m not sure,” he said, “where I’m going from here.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 7:55 PM with the headline "Ernie Els suffers putting nightmare at the Masters."