Watching Lee Westwood and realising how good he was helped Ernie Els to take on and beat the world again this weekend.

The two stablemates played together last Monday and, after capturing the WGC-CA Championship in Miami, Els said: "I just saw his ball flight, which was amazing.

"I thought 'I've got a way to go before I get that strike on the ball.' It was great playing with him. I didn't ask him anything, but I was watching and obviously he's on great form.

"So I took that, had lunch, then went back and hit balls until dark. I found something and couldn't wait to get out and try it."

The result was a four-stroke win over fellow South African Charl Schwartzel, with nobody else within seven shots of him, and Westwood 15 strokes back in 30th place.

Now it is the 40-year-old who, having ended a two-year barren spell, is going to find his odds tumbling for The Masters in three weeks' time.

Not that Els is going to get carried away. He has learnt that lesson.

At the start of 2007 he announced a three-year battle plan to challenge Tiger Woods as world number one, but now he is just relieved to have stopped a slide down the rankings.

The 63rd professional win of his career takes him back into the game's top 10 and he added: "I said a bit too much last time I won, I was a bit too cocky.

"I want to just enjoy this one. This took so much work to win. A lot of people have said that the older you get the tougher it becomes to win and that's very true.

"I'm 40 years old and it feels like in my 20s I had so many chances and I didn't quite take them.

"Now that you're older you don't get as many chances and you've got to try to take them when they come, so this is nice.

"I'll have a bit more confidence now, I'm sure, but I just want to keep working hard.

"I know what works for me now and that's hard work. So I'll keep working hard and enjoy it. Just to be back kind of in that group of players who are really performing well, I feel honoured to be back in there."

His son Ben's autism has taken up a lot of time in the last few years and he and wife Liezl are trying to raise the funds to build a treatment centre in Florida.

But he still wants to adds to his two US Opens and The Open title he took at Muirfield in 2002.

"I don't think the motivation was lacking, I just think that I went about it the wrong way," he added. "I was almost chasing my own tail a little bit.

"I was not looking after the smaller things, meaning my normal mechanics in the game, the basics.

"I was looking at the whole big picture and it takes four days of good play. It takes strategy. It takes mental strength. It takes patience.

"I kind of let that all out of the window and I was just going for the big prize. I was just not quite managing myself correctly.

"I think I learnt a little bit more about how to win, just doing it myself for once."