Ernie Els (Stats | Bio) was certainly thankful for the second opinion.

Els hit what he calls "my worst tee shot of the year" on No. 11 on Saturday, sending the ball deep into the woods on the left side of the fairway.

The on-site official initially ruled that Els would be forced to take a penalty, but Els thought he wasn't out of bounds despite the fact he was several feet into the trees.

So Els, the gallery, television audience and the officials waited for Will F. Nicholson Jr., the chairman of the competition committee, to make a ruling. Nicholson decreed in Els' favor, and he received a free drop, which he turned into a bogey on the par-4 11th.

Thanks to that ruling and to solid play on the final four holes, Els is in familiar territory, three shots behind co-leaders Phil Mickelson (Stats | Bio) (Stats | Bio) and Chris DiMarco (Stats | Bio) with 3-under 213.

"You know, I just felt that they could have moved this stuff off-site, you know, off the golf course," Els said. "I just felt that - in South Africa, we kind of call it 'greenskeepers rubble' - and I felt pretty strong about (the drop). I would say it was a good drop. So I made a pretty good 5 there."

The tee shot on No. 11 put a damper on what had been an excellent round for Els.

He birdied the second and fifth holes - briefly pulling him into a tie for the lead - and was at 4-under at the turn.

After his near-catastrophe on No. 11, Els bogeyed No. 13 and had a birdie at No. 15 before finishing with pars on the last four holes to pull into a tie with Bernhard Langer and K.J. Choi (Stats | Bio) .

"I thought I played pretty solid," Els said. "I really hit two bad shots - obviously on 11 and 17. Those are the only two really off-the-planet golf shots I hit."

Els said the course's recent changes make it tough to build momentum on the back nine.

"You know they had a couple of bail-out areas, and those bail-out areas are not there anymore," he said. "Especially on 11, on the right, you can't go there anymore. That's probably the toughest hole on the golf course right now, that one and 18. You have 17. You can't go right anymore there. At 15, you've got to really thread your tee shot there now to go for the green.

"So the back nine is a lot, lot different than what it was five, six years ago."

Els is accustomed to trailing the leaders. He's entered four of the past five Masters Tournament final rounds in fifth, third, fifth and fourth place, respectively, and he's finished in the top six in each of the past four years.

In 2000, he finished second to Vijay Singh (Stats | Bio) .

"I'd like to be a little closer," Els said. "You know, it's all a numbers game out here, isn't it? You've got to go out there and try and shoot your number out there, obviously. I just want a chance. That's all I'm asking for."