LONDON (PA) -- Ernie Els, the match play king of Wentworth, has once again omitted next month's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona from his schedule.
While the world No. 5's 2008 plans are at this stage "subject to change," the current absence of the event in which he has such a dismal record appears significant.
In stark contrast to October's HSBC World Match Play Championship in Europe, where he has triumphed a record seven times, Els has played the American version on six occasions and has been beaten in the first round four times and the second round twice. Not once has he made it even to the last 16.
The South African star, who did reach the semifinals when the Accenture was staged in Australia in 2001, stayed away in 2004 and 2005. But on his return two years, he was toppled by Bernhard Langer on the opening day, and last February, despite the switch from San Diego to Tucson, was sent packing straightaway once more by Welshman Bradley Dredge.
Els starts this season at the Dubai Desert Classic in three weeks' time and then will play the following week's Indian Masters, and will not launch his American campaign until the Honda Classic in Florida starting on Feb. 28.
"You may notice it looks a little different to previous years," Els said of his schedule. "This reflects my desire to try to gear my game around the majors and the other big tournaments.
"To be honest, I think there were maybe times in the past when I've tried to please too many people," he added. "Not now. I'm 38 and I need to think about me and how I can give myself the best chance to add to the three majors that I've already won.
"The biggest single goal that I have left in this game is to win the career Grand Slam -- to win all four majors at least once -- before I'm done. It's important I do everything in my power to make that goal achievable."
Els is still short of the game that brought him those three major victories, and he remains a long way behind world No. 1 Tiger Woods. However, he is confident he can close the gap.
"It was around this time last year that I made clear my three-year plan to catch Tiger at the top of the Official World Golf Rankings," said the South African. "Well, I've improved my ranking (he was sixth 12 months ago) but to be honest 2007 didn't go as well as I had originally hoped or anticipated."
He had to wait until the HSBC World Match Play for his first win and, when poised to add the Alfred Dunhill Championship in his home country last month, he finished with a triple-bogey 8 to lose by one.
"Despite some of the disappointments during the last 12 months, I do still feel that I have made some significant improvements," he added. "I feel that my swing is pretty sound right now. I just have to keep working hard and in particular try to improve my putting, especially under pressure.
"I watch someone like Justin Rose putt and, seriously, his putting is fundamentally as good as Tiger Woods. I feel like I really need to step it up to that level," he said. "I've had many times in my career when I've putted as well as anyone -- obviously, I want to rediscover that touch. I need to.
"I have got to start winning tournaments -- fast. If I can make a fast start to the season, I believe second place is soon within my grasp," he said. "I need to get there and then step it up again. I still want to believe that I can do it -- there is no reason why I can't."
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