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August 18, 2011

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Els gets last chance to make FedExCup playoffs

ERNIE Els enters the "last-chance saloon" at this week's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he hopes to reignite his game and qualify for the PGA Tour's lucrative end-of-season finale.

The three-times major champion is one spot shy of securing a place among the top 125 qualifiers and this week's event is the final opportunity before the FedExCup playoffs begin at the August 25-28 Barclays Classic in New Jersey.

Els had initially not planned to compete at Sedgefield Country Club this week but changed his schedule after missing the cut at last week's PGA Championship, the year's final major.

"This really is last-chance saloon," the South African former world number one said on his official website (http://www.ernieels.com/).

"The simple fact is if I play well, I'm in (the playoffs) and if I play poorly, I'm more than likely not. This is traditionally a pretty low-scoring week and I need to find a way to get something going.

"The PGA Championship was going to be my last FedEx Cup qualifying event, but I really don't want to miss out on those big events and a chance to tee it up in the Tour Championship."

The leading 125 players in the FedExCup standings after this week qualify for the four-event playoffs, which whittles down the field each week toward a climax at the September 22-25 Tour Championship, where only the top 30 compete.

Els lies a precarious 126th in the rankings after a frustrating PGA Tour season. All too often let down by his putting, he has not recorded a single top-10 in 16 starts and has missed five cuts in his last eight events.

"I've had a pretty tough year," he said. "I'm putting a lot of work into my game. I need to basically find a way of letting it happen, and I'm waiting for that week for it to happen."

Arjun Atwal is back this week to defend his title.



 

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