Ernie Els won last week’s tournament in China by 13 strokes.

But like Rodney Dangerfield, he isn’t getting any respect. After all, people say, he wasn’t exactly playing against the Varsity ... or even the junior varsity ...

But The Golf Channel’s George White says we ought to give Ernie Els’ his due. In his first three American tournaments of the year, he finished T3, 2nd, T6th. Ok, so he finished 47th at the Masters—but a lot of top players didn’t play well there this year.

And he has remained the world number three despite playing in a slew of second tier events in Timbuktu.

I wish he’d play more here, but he apparently has his own strategy. And as long as he’s contending in most majors—as he did last year—I don’t expect him to change.

Here’s an interview with John Daly following the Shell Houston Open.

Vijay Singh’s backdoor induction to the Golf Hall of Fame last week has got people talking. Sports Illustrated’s Gary Van Sickle suggests that the best solution may be to adopt a system similar to the LPGA’s. In that system, a player enters the Hall of Fame when she achieves 25 points. Two points are given for each major victory, and one for each regular victory.

Tom Kite’s return to the PGA Tour has not been going well. Having made the cut just once in seven tournaments, he was disqualified for signing for a par 4 on the eighth hole instead of his bogey 5. It was the first time in 705 events.

Golf sportswriters are a fickle lot. After last weekend’s Masters, they’ve stopped talking about “the big four” and have started droning on about Tiger’s quest for the Grand Slam in:  Golf Observer, in the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Winnipeg Sun.