Els working on his game plan

Dubai: Tiger Woods may be the red-hot favourite to successfully defend his title at the Dubai Desert Classic starting today. But one man among a handful of stars capable of upsetting Woods is South African Ernie Els.

Though Els is one of the few who have come close to breaking through the invincibility aura surrounding Woods, the South African has tipped the American icon as "the man to try and beat" this year.

Els holds a much better record of three titles in his 14 years at the Dubai Desert Classic, while Woods has won just once in his two previous visits here.

"Obviously, he is coming here with a lot of form," Els cautioned. And the 'Big Easy' has all reason to be cautious about the Tiger.

Last year, Woods lurked behind for three days and then came storming on the final day to outdo Els in a play-off to win for the first time ever in the Middle East.

"You can't go head-to-head against him. You've got to try and have your own little game plan and follow that," Els explained.

"Obviously, I came very, very close to winning here last year. But the way he's playing now the last couple of years, every week he's the man to try and beat," Els reflected.

"He's in form. And he could be off in certain aspects of his game. But he's going to be really great in other aspects. So he's going to be a factor wherever he plays," Els cautioned.

Els's encryption of the code to beat Tiger is simple. "I think I've really got to think of numbers this week. I've got to think of getting a winning total in my head and really going for it," Els stated.

"I've got to play really to the best of my ability to try and beat him. And then hopefully he's not the guy to have to beat by Sunday. But he probably will be. So you've just got to, you know, get to, say 22-under par and hopefully that's good enough," Els offered.