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Els backs off 'selfish' tag

Florida - Ernie Els backed off the "selfish" tag he applied to scandal-hit Tiger Woods, but the South African star did note the toll the the firestorm's consequences has taken on golf and golfers.

Els, speaking on the eve of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, said his comment last month was directed more at the timing of Woods' public apology statement - a Friday during a tournament - rather than at the 14-time major champion.

"I just felt the Friday was not the right place for that," Els said. "We had to play a tournament and it was maybe selfish from my point of view that all I wanted to do was play golf instead of talking about his personal life.

"I felt that the Monday would have been great. Friday wasn't great for us. So maybe I was selfish. Call me selfish. That's maybe where I'm coming from."

Els, who won at Doral two weeks ago in a World Golf Championships event, figures to challenge Woods when the world number one returns from a break of nearly five months at the Masters.

Attention like never before figures to swirl around Woods at Augusta National Golf Club while Els and other players simply hope to peak their games for the year's first major championship.

"It's hard for us to talk about Tiger, especially in this situation," Els said. "Ask me about his tournament victories and how we are going to stop some kind of a streak - and we are still trying to do that, by the way.

"But it's very difficult to talk about Tiger Woods as I know him as a golfer and a pretty good friend. Just all the things that happened, it has basically affected a lot of lives on tour as well.

"Tour players' lives have also been affected by this because of the constant questioning that we have to answer about a fellow player's private life.

"It's hard enough to make pars and birdies out there than with this whole situation hanging on the tour and everything else.

"I try not to go there but the questions keep coming. Obviously (reporters) have to do a job, as well, so you're trying to get some insight. We cannot give you insight because we don't know.

"I'd love everybody to stop asking questions about Tiger and his personal life. That's his life. We don't have any insight on it and basically we just want to get onto our basic tour lives."

Els did say that Woods is missed at the Palmer event, a 5.8 million-dollar US PGA tournament which for many will be the final tuneup for the Masters.

"He's missed here," Els said. "He lives down the road. I know they would love him to play and I know he would love to have everything just back to normal like it should be. But it's not. So it's very difficult for him."

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