Els has sights set on Tiger

Ennie Els has taken on the most monumental task in world golf: to try to topple Tiger Woods.

The South African is playing in, and leading, the Heineken Classic at Royal Melbourne where after rounds of 64 and 69 he is 11 under par and leading, by three shots, a quartet that includes Greg Norman and Mark Pilkington.

With the year only a month old this is already Els' fourth tournament and he plans a busy schedule right up until the US Masters in April.

It is all part of an attempt to hoist himself from his present ranking place at number five to what he regards as his rightful position: world number one.

But there is more to it than just beating more practice balls.

Els, like so many successful golfers, has employed the Belgian sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout to sharpen up his mental approach.

Practically nobody looks more at ease, or less bothered by pressure, than Els.

But appearances can be deceptive and yesterday Vanstiphout said: "He's got to get Tiger off his back."

Vanstiphout believes that given two years Els can catch the man widely regarded as uncatchable.

"You can't do it in less than two years," he said, "because he already has too big a lead.

"But if anyone can catch Tiger, Ernie can, by improving his mental processes.

" You can't improve his game ? come on, how would anyone improve that swing of his? But we can work on his mental approach."

Nick Faldo has spent years thinking about his game but a disappointing 73 left him seven shots adrift of Els.

He admitted afterwards: "I really struggled. I'm still trying to find a comfort zone with my swing when I need it. I know what to do, but I'm dealing with 27 years of doing the wrong thing."

The New Zealander Richard Lee, known to his mates as Muhammad because his name appears on the scoresheets as R Lee, needed a short putt on his 17th for a birdie and then an eagle at his last, a par five, for a round of 59. He missed the putt and parred his last, but it still added up to a 62 for a course record and sixth place.

Pilkington, 23 and a Welsh speaker from Morfa Nefyn, won the Welsh Amateur in 1998 and has a bet with Justin Rose and Nick Dougherty that the last of them to win a professional event will pay the others £200.

Rose got home safely last month but Pilkington and Dougherty will be jousting at next week's ANZ Championship unless, of course, the Welshman can get in first this week.

Norman's last success was four years ago, but nine days away from his 47th birthday he had a fine round of 67.