OAKMONT, Pa. — The little evil voice plagued the Big Easy, as if mocking the nickname that had been bestowed upon Ernie Els because of his fluid swing. On bad days, the voice pounded his mind with negative thoughts. Even on Els’s best days, like the Monday playoff in the 1994 United States Open at Oakmont Country Club, the voice cleared its throat on his backswings as he started with a bogey and a triple bogey and found only six fairways before winning on the 20th hole.
It was the first of four major titles for Els, who went on to spend a total of nine weeks as the world No.