Jim McCabe

As the PGA Tour puts the West Coast in its rear-view mirror and heads to Florida, the number being mentioned quite prominently is four — as in the events Tiger Woods has won consecutively, dating back to last year.

OK, some are putting that number at six, giving Woods credit for both his own Target World Challenge in December and the European Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic in February.

Four, six, what’s the difference? It’s still the same incomparable story.

On the other hand, four, seven is a different combination and it’s one that offers intrigue on the eve of the Florida swing. Until his breakthrough at the Honda Classic on Sunday, it had been 47 tournaments since Ernie Els last won on the PGA Tour. Given his deft skills and immense power, his major resume and great finesse, it’s unthinkable that went winless since the fall of 2004.

Els had, after all, won at least once in 10 of 11 seasons starting in 1994 when he burst through with a U.S. Open triumph. By the tender age of 27, Els had five PGA Tour wins and a second U.S. Open, but he also had something else: The impossible presence of Woods, whose first start as a pro in a U.S. Open was the one Els won in 1997.

No player during the Woods era has carried the burden of trying to stand up to the majestic one quite like Els. Oh, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Jim Furyk, Davis Love, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, and a handful of other marquee names have probably all been denied greater fame and glory — and maybe a major or two — by Woods’s unmatched talents, but it is Els who has had his spirit broken the most.

It’s hard to quantify how much of a negative impact Woods’ career has had on Els, or for that matter, how much the South African’s career suffered with heartbreaking runner-up finishes in the 2004 Masters and British Open, but he hasn’t seemed to have the same fire or the same passion since coming back from a knee injury in the summer of ’05.

The money still flows very, very easily toward Els, who commands huge appearance fees in all corners of the world — and he seems content to take advantage, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. Some friends will suggest that all that worldwide travel and all those money-grab events have taken their toll on Els, who at 37 doesn’t seem to be at a point in his career where he can take on Woods’ superiority — though he made overtures of doing just that by talking of a “three-year” plan recently.

Els figures to get a shot at Woods twice in Florida — the Bay Hill Invitational and the CA Championship — before the Masters kicks off another season of major championships. But this shouldn’t be about taking on Woods — that’s a mission no golfer in his right mind would sign up for. Instead, Els still has what it takes to win a major championship, maybe two, and before you brush that off, remember that he was one horrific swing away from a possible British Open triumph last July and he followed that up with a third in the PGA Championship.

Here’s hoping that the man they call “The Big Easy” remembers that he’s 37, not 27, and that his prep work for the majors takes on a clarity that it has often lacked. Els returning to the winner’s circle would be a good thing for the PGA Tour, not because it would signal a challenge to Woods (please!), but because he’s been too good for too long to stay on the outside.

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