Ernie Els Trying Quotations

Because of the grass and open face, I take one more club for shots from the rough, unless the ball is sitting on top of dry grass. Then, I use more loft and swing softer, trying to hit it about 70 percent to avoid a flyer over the green.

I worked really hard on my long game the last two week, especially last week. I'm working on a bit of a flatter plane through the ball. I got a little bit steep on the ball so I'm trying to flatten it out a little bit through the hitting area.

Spin is a tricky thing. When you're trying to avoid it - say, on a tee shot, where sidespin puts you in the trees - it's easy to make it happen.

I was thinking about that, trying to maybe work on a utility club the next couple of weeks to use it at Augusta.

I'm not trying to keep my cut streak alive. I'm simply trying to get back into the tournament. Making it to the weekend gives you half a chance.

I'm not trying to keep the cut streak alive, I was trying to get back in the tournament. My iron play let me down a little bit.

The biggest mistake is trying to pinch down on the ball and ripping out a big divot, often hitting the ground before the ball. You'll dig up some turf, but you won't create much backspin.

Exactly. That's where Jos really helped me a lot. I've got to hit my shots. I have to play my game. We weren't even talking about Tiger ever -- or any other player, for that matter. Jos was just trying to brainwash me and get me to go from A to B. And that's all I must concern myself about.

The knee has been very good. I've obviously had to really work hard on little bad habits I got into because of trying to protect the knee a little bit. I think I've gotten over that.

If you don't believe you can make every putt, why bother trying?