A remarkable turnaround in his putting form has given Els the renewed belief that he can continue to contest the biggest events in world golf.

Throughout his career, it has been well-documented that the Big Easy has had trouble with the short stick, which even saw him making use of Dr Sherylle Calder to iron out his putting problems.

Els is also a three-time champion of the Dubai Desert Classic, which will further boost his confidence heading into the tournament.

The Big Easy says the results aren’t quite there yet with his putting, but he is looking forward to the season.

"A lot of my friends and my father told me to change, to make a drastic change in my set-up, to try the left-hand-low and all this, and I was like, no, no.

“But at the South African Open, I was still missing it from 18 inches and a foot and so on.

"I thought I'll give it a go, and that second round, I went with that, and started feeling a little bit more stable. Now it's starting to feel very normal. Hopefully that's the change that I needed to make."

The European Tour event tees off tomorrow morning at the Emirates Golf Club.

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson leads the standings in the Race to Dubai, followed by last weeks’ Qatar Masters winner, Brandon Grace of South Africa, while his countryman, Charl Schwartzel, is in 4th.

Morgan Piek/OFM NEWS