Ernie Els, the world number three, has taken the extraordinary decision to use a club that is illegal in most of the places in which he makes a living.

Less than 48 hours before tomorrow's Tournament Players Championship starts here in Germany he announced that he would be using a new driver that is sanctioned by the Royal & Ancient but is banned by the United States Golf Association (USGA), whose rules govern the US Tour on which Els plays the vast majority of his events.

The reason? Els is desperate to catch Tiger Woods, the man who is dominating the game, and feels that he cannot ignore any development that would give him a chance to do so.

The club is one of the TaylorMade R300 series (the R is short for R&A) and has the same kind of thin face that led to a similar Callaway club being prohibited by the American authorities. These "hot" drivers allegedly send the ball further all on their own - according to the Americans - while the R&A feels that other factors, such as better all-round technology, agronomy and physiology play a more significant part. Els is inclined to agree with the USGA.

Last year the South African, who despite his easy demeanour is one of the most motivated men in the professional game, was runner-up to Woods in three of the four majors, and, although he made pots of money, missed out on all the glory.

So he has decided to take a chance by playing different drivers on different tours. He does not see it as a problem.

"The shape of the new club is the same," he said yesterday, "it feels the same and the only differences are that it sounds different and, without me changing my swing, the ball goes 10-15 yards further.

"It will help me close the gap on Tiger. He's still the man, he does a lot of things better than anyone, but using this driver will mean I may be hitting the same club into the green as he is and that should make a difference."

Els now has the chance to find out, as Woods is playing in this event for the third time. The American has the reverse problem to almost everyone else: he hits the ball too far.

Yesterday he admitted: "I have deliberately scaled down my tee shots. My driving stats are down almost every year and that's because I don't go at it quite as hard as I used to."

One man who will not be taking on the Tiger for the £280,000 sterling first prize at St Leon-Rot is Sam Torrance. The Scot, who picked up a rib injury that forced him to pull out of the Belfry last Saturday, is resting in an attempt to be fit for the Volvo PGA championship at Wentworth next week.