Els balances the best for family and his game

He is the elite, multiple-major champion golfer who has been down a long, rough road. His family means the world to him, influencing his major decisions off the course. This week, he will try to write the comeback story of the year at the Masters.

And he's not who you think.

He is Ernie Els, who briefly made news this year by calling Tiger Woods "selfish" for scheduling his public apology opposite a big tournament (and has since stepped back from the criticism). Lately, he has made headlines with his revitalized game, ending a two-year victory drought and becoming the only two-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2010.

Yet that is barely half the story. The South African uprooted his family and moved full time to Florida to seek the best care for his 7-year-old son Ben, who has autism.

So the Ernie Els journey isn't as juicy, sordid or famous as the Woods saga, but it sure is compelling.

"I've had to go back to the drawing board a little bit," he said this week at the Shell Houston Open, coming off wins at Doral and Bay Hill. He went on to say that a softer golf ball helped his short game and that his driving is better, too. "But," he added, "I think the biggest problem was my mental approach toward myself and the game itself. That's been a little better."

Els maybe finally has regained the mojo he lost after he severely damaged his left knee in a water sports accident in July 2005. He did win the Honda Classic in 2008 but never got any traction from it. He has missed the cut at the past three Masters.

He has patched his game together on the fly. Els, his wife, Liezl, their daughter Samantha and Ben left their home in England for Jupiter, Fla., so they could be near a facility that offers Ben intensive therapy.

"He loves watching me practice," Els said after he won the WGC CA Championship last month. "When I'm at the Bear's Club, he always comes out and gets on the range and watches me play. He tries to hit a couple of shots himself. He just loves being on the golf course with me."

Els has won this year's Charlie Bartlett Award for humanitarianism in a vote by the Golf Writers Association of America, as he and Liezl have championed a cause with the Els for Autism Foundation.

This week, he would love to be a major champion again.

"It can be one of the toughest, cruelest games in the world," he said during the winner's news conference last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, "and then you sit here, it's one of the nicest games."