Els makes adjustments

In his absence, the golfing world has changed. Five months ago, when Ernie Els suffered knee ligament damage in a skiing accident, he was ranked number two in the world.

This week, the South African returns to tournament action in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City - where Darren Clarke is also one of the 12 players in the elite, invitational field - as the world's number five and with some slight adjustments to his swing and putting set-up.

It's indicative of Els's determination to make an impressive return that yesterday's practice round at Sun City was his second full round since arriving on Saturday.

"To be honest, I feel really fortunate to have my health back and to be in a position to play again," remarked Els. "The knee is still a bit sore and a little swollen, so between now and the first round on Thursday I'll probably take it a little bit easier than I would at a regular tournament."

Els used his time away from the golf course to reassess his swing. Initially, the reassessment revolved around his putting as, being unable to make full swings, the only part of the game he could play in the early part of his recuperation from knee surgery was putting.

"I was watching some tapes of myself in tournament play and it looked to me that my putting posture wasn't quite right, almost that the putter was too short for me. Also, I seemed to be cutting across the ball ever-so-slightly. I wasn't releasing the putter freely through towards the hole like you should," he explained.

The result of such analysis is that Els has extended the shaft on his putter to 36 inches, something which has helped him to "stand taller over the ball, (with) my spine straighter."

As for his swing, Els has revealed that he paid a lot of attention to the fundamentals of posture and alignment in his time away from tournaments.

"When you're tall like I am, it's easy for faults to creep in at address . . . So I've worked really hard on getting my shoulders lined up with my hips and toes, all parallel to the target line.

"Also my posture has come in for some attention. It's easy to slip into bad habits in this area of the game (and) the danger is you can get a little too hunched over the ball. So I've been making sure my back is more upright, the spine angle quite erect, and also feeling that my arms are a bit closer to my chest."

This is Els's 14th appearance (which equals the record of Bernhard Langer and Nick Price) in the Nedbank (formerly known as the Million Dollar Challenge), and his record includes three wins and three runners-up finishes.

Others competing for the $1.2 million first prize are Clarke, defending champion Retief Goosen, Luke Donald, Stuart Cink, Angel Cabrera, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk, Chris DiMarco, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Tim Clark.

Clarke, making his first appearance since defending his Taiyeiho Masters title in Japan earlier this month, has decided to end the year in somewhat globe-trotting fashion and will also compete in next week's Target World Challenge in California where Padraig Harrington will also be in the field.

Harrington spent last week in Poland at the same physical training facility used by the Irish rugby team, before finishing off his season's work at next week's World Challenge where there is a 16-man field and $1.3 million on offer to the winner.

Harrington has moved back up to 11th in the latest world rankings, with Clarke in 19th and Paul McGinley in 21st. Graeme McDowell is in 50th, and must remain in that position at the end of the year if he is to receive an invite to the US Masters at Augusta National next April.

If he does slip out of the top 50, a second chance will present itself early in 2006 as those ranked in the top 50 after the Players Championship in March who haven't previously received an invite to the Masters will obtain one.

The PGA European Tour's 2006 schedule continues its early-season itinerary to the Hong Kong Open where there will be five Irish players: Peter Lawrie, fresh his top-10 finish in China which has moved him to 228th in the world rankings, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Michael Hoey, David Higgins and Stephen Browne. Miguel Angel Jimenez is the defending champion for the tournament which starts on Thursday.