Els gets the Leadbetter out, switches to Harmon

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Last year, Ernie Els headed to the first major of the year with a bag full of new equipment.

This time, as he readies himself this week for the Masters, he has a brand-new coach.

The third-ranked player in the world told CBSSports.com on Monday night that he has joined forces with Butch Harmon, who can now boast three of the top eight players in the world rankings as members of his stable. Els had been a client of David Leadbetter for two decades.

"We have been friends for 20 years and will always be friends," Els said of Leadbetter. "I'm giving him a ticket here for this week. This is purely a professional thing."

It's been a season of a change across the board for Els, who abruptly switched to Callaway clubs last March and dramatically overhauled his spring schedule this year in an attempt to better prepare for the season's first Grand Slam event of 2008.

Yet the coaching change came as a surprise, given how long he and Leadbetter have been allies, not to mention former neighbors at an upscale Orlando, Fla., club. Els began working with Harmon three weeks ago on the range in Miami and has been sending the Las Vegas-based swing guru video via computer for the past couple of weeks.

"The wonders of technology," Els said.

Els made a point of emphasizing that he and Leadbetter parted company under the best of circumstances.

"I don't want anybody thinking badly about Lead," Els said. "This is basically a new set of eyes. It's a change of, how do you say, lingo. He says probably the same things, but just a little bit differently."

The two were scheduled to work together formally on the Augusta range on Tuesday, but for Els of late, little has gone according to plan.

He scaled back the West Coast portion of his schedule with designs of playing all four stops on the Florida Swing, and it began with a bang with a victory at the Honda Classic, his first win in the States in 3½ years. But Els missed the cut the following week in Tampa, then withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational, citing exhaustion. Last week, he was supposed to play in Houston, but caught a flu bug and withdrew.

He spent much of the past the past 10 days in the Bahamas, mostly fighting a headache, a case of the sweats and occasional chills, he said. So as far as being game-sharp, he's optimistic, but admittedly guessing.

"Wiped out," he said of his scheduling plan. "Flat wiped out, but at least I got the win. But that's right, I haven't played much golf.

"You know, the way I look at it is, when I won the Honda, I still had some swing flaws I was fighting," he said. "Then I got sick and it took a lot of energy out of me and I think those flaws got a lot worse.

"So, I have had some time off to work on that. When the gun goes off here Thursday, I feel I can get off to a good start."

Since winning the Honda Classic, he has posted six over-par rounds in succession. He finished 75th out of the 77 players who finished the CA Championship at Doral two weeks ago, where he first began working with Harmon.

Harmon, who also coached Tiger Woods for a decade, might be the shot of fresh energy that Els needs. Among his more notable characteristics, Harmon, a former military man, has a tendency to phrase things a bit more bluntly than the more laid-back Leadbetter. Maybe Els needs an occasional kick in the pants.

"Hey, we're all grown men," Els said. "Sometimes that's what you need to hear."