ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (PA) -- Ernie Els may be nicknamed the "Big Easy," but the South African is not about to take it easy on himself as he reflects on his career.

"Not winning a major since 2002 doesn't sit well with me," admitted Els, who labeled some of his golf in 2008 as "clueless."

However, the South African insists he is back on track and keen to reproduce the form that has earned him more than 50 tournament victories worldwide.

"By no means have I had a bad career, but to have a start like I had ... I felt like I was right on track then," he said. "This year I had a very bad Masters and missed the cut there.

"The U.S. Open, I hit the ball as good as I have all year, but I was clueless on the greens," he added. "At the Open Championship, I shot 80 on the first day and at the PGA Championship, I didn't have a good one there, either.

"But that's why you make changes, to try to find answers and get better because I feel as healthy and as fit as ever and my swing is really good -- so there's a lot of things going for me.

"I just need to get things going my way and that's basically momentum. That's what Padraig (Harrington) has got at the moment," he said. "The way he won the Open was incredible golf on the final nine holes and at the PGA, getting up and down all the time, that's momentum and a lot of confidence.

"He's riding a nice wave at the moment whereas I've just had a lack of confidence on the golf course this year and I am working on that at the moment."

Els was one of the players expected to make the most of Tiger Woods' absence from the game after knee surgery over the past six months. But it has been Harrington who has gained most by successfully defending his British Open title at Birkdale and then lifting the PGA Championship crown at Oakland Hills a few weeks later.

Woods is working on his game but has yet to say exactly when he plans to play competitively again. Els believes the world No. 1 is doing the right thing by not setting a deadline for his return.

"Your left knee is very important in the golf swing and I still felt it at least a year, a year and a half after the surgery," said Els, who suffered a similar injury on a family holiday in the summer of 2005. "It's something major.

"Every time someone asked about my knee, I said it was fine, but it wasn't. I think it was the Open at Hoylake in 2006 when I finally felt I was getting over it," he added. "Whenever the weather was warm I would feel comfortable, but whenever it was cold it was horrible.

"Tiger can probably come back earlier, but he wants to be 100 percent ready so who knows?" he added. " Whether that's next year, the middle of next year or by the Masters in April, who knows?

"I was very stubborn. I wanted to come back as soon as possible and set a date for the event at Sun City (the 2005 Nedbank Golf Challenge in December of that year) and that was definitely too early," he explained. "The doctors down there saw my knee and thought I was crazy to play, it was so swollen."

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