Els ties for 4th, fit to be tied

ERNIE ELS came into his final round at Merion within striking distance of the lead, 6-over par when he stepped to the first tee yesterday. Els found the birdies that were there for the taking, collecting five. He also had two bogeys and one costly double bogey to shoot a 1-under round of 69.

He moved up the leaderboard as the day went on, finishing in a four-way tie for fourth at 5-over with Jason Dufner, Hunter Mahan and Billy Horschel. The champion, Justin Rose, shot a 1-over.

But Els didn't leave Merion happy. After his round, Els began his press conference by praising the course and the way the tournament was handled. He ended it by storming out of the interview room.

"It's been an unbelievable venue this week," Els said at first. "The course definitely held up. Started the week with people saying there could be record scores. I totally disagreed with that. It was a great setup. The rough was tough. Yeah, everything about it was just wonderful."

Then someone mentioned that last Monday, Els had been quoted as saying, "It's going to be bunched. It's going to be under par. You'll be seeing quite a few numbers in the red. It's going to be an exciting U.S. Open."

Els responded by saying, "I didn't say that. Let's get this straight. Somebody else said it. And I didn't agree with it. So let's just get this [bleep] straight here."

When reminded that he had predicted the field would be bunched up, Els said, "Am I wrong or right? . . . I'm out of here."

And with that, he was off.

Els will have another shot at a major in just about a month, when he tries to defend his British Open title. Maybe there he won't make any predictions.