Verizon Heritage round two: Els says it with a smile

There’s a wonderful picture of Ernie Els on the front of the PGA Tour website Saturday morning (Hurry these pictures don’t stay there too long). Taken from his smooth, bogey-free second round, it has the look of a man very much at ease with himself, as he should be, you might think, with a three-shot lead at the half-way stage.

This is a more important smile than that. This weekend is all about Ernie getting his career seriously back on track. Victory at the Verizon Heritage has become a vital milestone. Or maybe it is that defeat now could prove a heavy blow to his efforts to return to the top flight. There are a lot of sceptics out there who think he can’t do it.

The photograph is encouraging as it backs up his suggestion afterwards that his problem recently has been pushing too hard and falling over himself. “I’ve been a little hard on myself … So this week I’ve just tried to play the way I can play and, if I’m going to make a mistake, then I don’t feel like it’s the end of the world kind of thing. I think my mindset is a little different this week.”

It’s clearly working. But now comes the really difficult bit. It wouldn’t be the first time Els has let a lead slip and this tournament has a habit of producing surprise finales. It is not uncommon for someone to come from as much as seven behind at the half-way stage to snatch the win - Stewart Cink was nine shots adrift after round three in 2004 (although the leader then, Ted Purdy, is no Els). It was also Cink, four shots back on the Sunday Morning, who swiped victory from under Els’s own nose in 2000. Ernie still vividly remembers that.

So those happily climbing aboard the South African’s bandwagon at something like 1.7 have been warned. I do hope these aren’t the same people that followed Tiger Woods down below the evens line last week.

There’s some mean-looking critters on Ernie’s tail, not the least Fred Funk, a big danger if his back holds out. Jerry Kelly is still in a strong position despite fighting off a cold, Stephen Leaney is no slouch in these situations, and the defending champion Aaron Baddeley is six shots behind. Heck, even the Masters master Zach Johnson must fancy his chances of a historic double a tiny bit.

What could be critical is the weather, with the wind returning, and almost certainly rain on Sunday. The wind looks like being particularly troublesome for the final round.

So it’s important for Els not to lose that smile and to stay loose as they all come at him. With his experience I think he’ll do it, but prudence dictates locking in a profit on him in case he doesn’t.

PS: Apologies to anyone trying to access my website early Saturday. The host site went belly-up for a (too long) period but hopefully is now back to working order.