Dolch: Life, golf getting easier for the Big Easy

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The smile has returned to Ernie Els' face after battling demons on and off the course over the past few years.

For almost three years, Ernie Els' sobriquet was misleading. There was nothing simple about playing golf, not even for the Big Easy.

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He went 3½ years without winning on the PGA TOUR, admitting he tried to come back too fast from blowing out his left knee in a water-boating accident in 2005. He spent too much time traveling around the globe and not enough time in the winner's circle.

But the biggest battle Els faced was for him and wife Liezl to come to grips with the autism of their 6-year-old son, Ben. It was an ordeal they waged privately before finally coming public with their situation last March, a week after he ended his long PGA TOUR victory drought with a win at The Honda Classic.

"I think if you look at it, I've had a lot of things that I've had to kind of put in place away from golf," Els said last week at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. "If you look at normal life, there's been a lot of things happen in our family. That's been more important, basically, than anything else. But taking care of more important things has taken my focus away a little bit."

Els believes this blip in his certain Hall of Fame career is finally behind him. And not just because he finished tied for sixth last week at the TOUR's season-opening event at Kapalua.

That's because when he steps on the first tee these days, the South African's thoughts are simply to put the ball in the fairway, and not be worrying about Ben's condition, the state of his right knee or that famed "voice" on his shoulder reminding him of any mental demons.

Els said his decision to come public with Ben's condition was a load lifted off his massive shoulders. Els soon announced he was moving his family to Jack Nicklaus' Bear's Club in Jupiter, Fla., where there is a tremendous support system to handle Ben's medical needs.

Things, in other words, are getting easier on the golf course again.

"Yeah, I feel we're in a good place," Els said. "The family is really settled in Florida. They are really happy there. Ben's happy. (Daughter) Samantha's great. The other stuff is looking better."

So it should have been no surprise that Els looked like his old self for most of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, save for a third-round 73 that cost him a chance to put any heat on winner Geoff Ogilvy. Nor will it be a surprise here if Els wins multiple times this year to resume his chase of Tiger Woods and the No. 1 ranking Els held for nine weeks in the late 1990s.

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Ernie Els' son Ben, seen here in 2005, was born shortly after Ernie won the 2002 British Open.

"If you look at most of the great players, they play their best golf when everything is going well with their family," another Hall of Famer, Nick Price, said several years ago. "By the same token, I don't care how much talent you have, if you're having problems at home, you're not going to play very well."

No, there is way too much time during a round of golf for the mind to wander to the bad stuff. And Els admits he has a tendency to listen to that "voice" on his shoulder when things aren't going well.

Els certainly made the game look easy when he won the first of his three career majors at 24, beating Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts in a three-way playoff at the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont. Els added another major title at the 1997 U.S. Open at Congressional (the first major held after Woods' landmark Masters' win), and it appeared he might win a half-dozen or more of golf's four major championships.

But it didn't help that Els had the misfortune of finishing second in three consecutive majors in 2000, two of them by a total of 22 shots to the electric Woods. Because Els was willing to face the media after Woods' dominating performances, Els unwittingly became the public face of the vanquished during Woods' rise to brilliance.

Els spent so much time answering questions about Woods, he may have lost some of his own identity. Nobody should have been surprised, then, when Els started meeting with a sports psychologist to help him with a game that had been so, well, easy for him throughout his life.

It took Els five more years to win another major -- he beat three others in a playoff at the 2002 British Open. Three months later, Ben was born.

Els won five more TOUR events the next two years, but his game took a serious hit when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in a boating accident soon after the 2005 British Open. Els returned to competitive golf six months later, even though his knee was still swollen, and swing flaws and doubt crept in.

"I went through waves of, you know, not having any confidence in certain aspects of my game," Els said. "It's been a very weird couple of years. I feel better. I feel the whole package is better. My mental attitude is also better, I think. That's the main thing. I think my mental attitude wasn't great for a long period of time."

Els, now 39, realizes he's on the back nine of his career. That's why he reunited with longtime caddy Ricci Roberts, with whom he's had his most success, and also decided to hire Butch Harmon as his swing coach.

After coming public with Ben's autism, Els says he senses fans are supporting his comeback even more. They're not alone.

After Els suffered through a miserable, 34-putt performance in the third round at Kapalua, former players Nick Faldo and Frank Nobilo, who were in the announcing booth for the Golf Channel, rushed to Els' aid after the telecast was over.

"I must have looked pretty desperate out there," Els said with a slight grin.

It's great to see that big smile again. The game may never be as it easy as it was for Els, but it no longer seems like a Calculus exam, either. He took just 25 putts while shooting a bogey-free 67 in the final round.

"I feel good about the year," said Els, who won this week's Sony Open in 2003 and 2004. "I want to inch myself along, play each round, each tournament. I've got a lot of talent, and if I get all of this stuff together, things can start falling into place again."

Then Els can do more than talk about making yet another run at Woods.

Craig Dolch is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.