US Tour: Time was when Tiger Woods sought out his prey and devoured them. Now, after fending off Vijay Singh for months, an old adversary has re-emerged as the main threat to his world number-one position. Philip Reid reports

Ernie Els won the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village on the US Tour on Sunday - his 10th win worldwide in the past 18 months - and, in his typically low-key way, targeted Woods.

"Why not?" Els responded when asked if getting to the world's top spot was a realistic goal, adding: "I'm just going to try and play good when I play . . . the rest will take care of itself."

The thing is, nobody's playing more competitive golf than Els right now. The South African started a string of six successive weeks at last month's Byron Nelson that will take him right up to next week's US Open at Shinnecock Hills which has always been one of his season's goals.

This week Els continues his non-stop schedule by playing in the Buick Classic at Westchester where among those in the field will be Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke, both of whom will be sharpening their games for the season's second major. For the rest of Ireland's tour players, the action will take them to the Diageo Championship at Gleneagles where Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie, Gary Murphy and Damien McGrane will be competing.

For Els, though, his win at the Memorial fulfilled one of his life's ambitions. In winning, he leap-frogged Singh to take the world number two spot and moved just 2.28 average points behind Woods. Els has spent brief periods as the world's number one in the past - the longest stint was for three weeks in 1998 - but he believes his game is in much better shape these days.

"I'm playing a little bit more consistent than I did back then. I know there's always stuff you can work on in your game, but it's not as bad as it used to be. I feel good about it . . . this week was a yardstick for me because of the field and the way the other guys played," he insisted.

In terms of turning his game around, the association he developed with mind coach Jos Vanstiphout in mid-2001 - a year before his British Open win at Muirfield - was crucial.

"He just gave me different ideas to approach the game," said Els. "I think, since then, working with him has been a big influence one me. I've got to give him credit and I just keep going with those new ideas. I think since then I've been playing different golf."

Ironically, given that Els is now in pursuit of Woods's number one spot, one of those thoughts was to get Tiger out of his head. "He thought I had Tiger in my head, and I disagreed with him. But he says I did.

"I needed to redefine my goals, redefine my golfing career, and we did that through the end of 2001. I really dedicated myself on and off the golf course.

"When you're in your late 20s you enjoy your golf and don't take it all that seriously. It came easy to me.

"Then the tour changed when Tiger came out, the level came up and I wasn't with it. My swing wasn't nearly what it is now and with the help of Lead (David Leadbetter) I'm a changed player."

Els's latest win, his third of the year and the second on the US Tour, came after a final round 66 for 18-under-par 270 - earning him $945,000 for his 14th US Tour career victory - which left him four clear of Fred Couples. "People don't realise how good his short game is," insisted Couples. "Ernie knows what he is doing."

And, in terms of timing, Els's win comes at the right time in his build-up to Shinnecock Hills, although he remarked: "You know, I don't know that I'm thinking about the US Open. I'm going to enjoy this one. I'm really going to enjoy this event.

"I know what I've got to work on. I've still got that left shot. That's kind of always been my nemesis. I did it again on 15 (in the final round). I had to just put the ball on the green on the right and I pulled it. And I did it again on 16, so I know what I've got to work on. I've got another week to do that.

"This week I hit 100 putts. I've never done that before. If I keep putting the way I'm putting and my short game stays there, if I can get the rest ready where I need to be, I think I'll have a good chance anywhere. I just need to stay fresh now.

"This week (in the Buick) I'll take it for what it is and work on what I need to work on, and I should be ready for Shinnecock."

But there's no chance of Els withdrawing from the Buick for any respite ahead of Shinnecock. His sequence of six tournaments started with Byron Nelson - "I love going there, won there before and just love the place" - before playing in the TPC of Europe where SAP, one of the co-sponsors, is one of his main sponsors. Next, it was onto the Volvo PGA at Wentworth - "it's like a major in Europe" - then on to the Memorial, a tournament he was "never going to miss".

If he didn't play the Buick, he would then be struggling to fulfil his obligations of playing the required number of tournaments in the US to keep his tour membership . . . so this week's tournament at Westchester remains in his itinerary.

"You know, you put all of that stuff together, all of a sudden you have to play six in a row, and I'm going to do that," he added.

While Els was reasserting his claim to the world's number two place, and closing the gap on Woods, the world's number one again showed evidence at the Memorial his game is coming back. In his last three tournaments, Woods has tied for third, tied for fourth and finished third (at the Memorial), good momentum to bring with him to Shinnecock Hills. "I'm playing better, this was another step in the right direction," said Woods.

Irish positions on Volvo Order of Merit - 2, D Clarke €859,874; 6, P Harrington €736,740; 18, G McDowell 366,849; 28, P McGinley 293,466; 79, P Lawrie €120,755; 92, D McGrane 95,159; 116, G Murphy 63,463; 218, D Higgins 9,562.