Okay, here's a little teaser. Who has won more prize money in the British Open than any other player? Hint. He made his debut - qualifying as a 19-year-old amateur - here at Troon in 1989 and, since then, has had six top-10 finishes, including one victory.

The answer is Ernie Els, who won at Muirfield in 2002 and has finished runner-up on two occasions and third another time.

In 12 previous appearances as a professional (the only time he failed to make the cut was on his one-and-only amateur appearance), the South African has accumulated £1.4 million in prize money of which over £1 million has boosted his bank balance in the past four years.

As ever, he has his eyes on regaining the claret jug.

"Majors are the most important tournaments for me," he said. "That's how you shape your career, where you get to that level to try and win as many majors as you can.

"It's what I look forward to, what I practise for . . . to get myself into contention and be effective at the weekends in the majors and see how you cope under pressure. That's what really drives my career still, is to try and win these things."

In the first two majors of the season, Els has contended coming into the final round. At Augusta, he finished runner-up to Phil Mickelson in the US Masters and at Shinnecock Hills he was second going into the final round, shot a finishing round of 80 and slipped out to tied-ninth.

Of this season's two previous majors, Els commented: "I felt that was my time to win at the Masters . . . but I got outplayed by Phil. Other times when I almost collapsed I won, like Muirfield two years ago. It's just a strange game, just how the cookie goes for you.

"But at Shinnecock Hills, I felt it got out of control (in the final round). I went from second to ninth with an 80 and that tells you how ridiculous it was. It wasn't fair, and that's why I was disappointed. For me to shoot an 80 playing so well, it became such a farce."

That performance at the US Open finished a six-week stretch of tournaments for Els that started with the Byron Nelson on the US Tour and then saw him play back-to-back in Europe at the Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe and the Volvo PGA before returning back to the United States for the Memorial (which he won), the Buick Classic and, finally, the US Open.

On his return to competition at last week's Scottish Open, Els fine-tuned for Troon by finishing third behind Thomas Levet. All of which augurs well for his latest assault on a major championship.

"Right now, I feel good about my game," he said. "I've won quite a few tournaments around the world.

"If I'm not going to win this week and I finish second or finish 10th, I'll have to take stock again, figure out where I went wrong . . . but, really, all you can just do is try and give yourself a chance."

Els can overtake world number one Tiger Woods if he wins at Troon and that's something that has crossed his mind coming here.

"A lot of players feel we can compete with Tiger now at the highest level. He's still playing great golf. You guys say he's off his game, but he still finishes top-10, or top-five . . . he's still not that off and he'll be effective this week.

"I guess it is important for me to get to world number one, but it's more important for me to win this tournament. To win majors is more important for me, for my career. And if the number one spot comes around, obviously it will be great. To be number one in this day and age with so many great players would be quite something."

Another major win - his fourth - would get Els to that promised land.