Els hoping to continue end of season form

World Match Play champion Ernie Els is hoping to reproduce his Wentworth form at this week's Tour Championship, the final U.S. PGA Tour event of the season.

South African Els, who never trailed in any of his three matches during the week, clinched his fourth World Match Play title with a 2 & 1 victory over Sergio Garcia in England nine days ago.

An improved set-up and a smooth putting stroke were the keys to his superb golf over the three days at Wentworth and the British Open champion would dearly love to secure his third U.S. Tour title of the year at the East Lake Golf Club this week.

"It would be great to end the season on a high note with another win," the 33-year-old Els said on his official website.

"Having had a few weeks off in the last month or so, I can tell you I'm feeling pretty fresh again and raring to go. My whole game feels in good shape at the moment."

The world number three fired a tournament record 60 on his way to a crushing 6 & 5 win over Scotland's Colin Montgomerie in the quarter-finals at Wentworth and believes his amended set-up was a key factor.

"All I did was change my posture to feel like I was standing a bit taller to the ball and make sure my alignment was spot-on," he said. "And, bingo, I played some of the best golf of the year.

"The great thing is, the more comfortable it starts to become, the more confident over the ball you are. That's a nice feeling.

"Plus my putting has felt so good ever since the World Match Play that, if I get some good surfaces to putt on this week, I feel like I can hole a lot of putts right now."

This week's lucrative event, which offers an overall purse of $5 million and a first prize of $900,000, brings together the PGA Tour's top-30 money winners.

Canadian left-hander Mike Weir is back to defend the title he won last year in a four-way playoff against David Toms, Els and Garcia in Houston.

Weir sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to earn his third career title after slipping back into the playoff with a bogey on the 72nd hole.

Ten players will be making their Tour Championship debuts this week, including U.S. PGA champion Rich Beem, fellow Americans Jerry Kelly, Charles Howell III and Len Mattiace, South Africa's Retief Goosen and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama.

Els is looking forward to returning to the Atlanta course which staged the 2000 Tour Championship, won that year by Phil Mickelson by a two-shot margin over defending champion Tiger Woods.

"There's lots of history surrounding this place because it was home to the great Bobby Jones, and that makes it pretty special," said the big South African.

"And it also happens to be a very good golf course. I know it from having played the Tour Championship here in 2000 and I liked it a lot.

"It's a pretty tough par-71, with some strong par-fours -- especially on the back nine as I seem to remember.

"The thing I remember most, though, is the greens. They were unbelievably good in 2000 and there's no reason to think they won't be equally as brilliant this time around."

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