ERNIE Els has credited Lee Westwood with his latest victory at the WGC-CA Championship in Miami.

The big South African has been struggling in recent seasons after an operation on his knee and had gradually slipped down the World Rankings but his win has seen him bounce back to No.8.

Els and Westwood, who are both managed by Chubby Chandler's International Sports Management Group, played together on the Monday prior to the tournament and it was then that former Open champion realised how good Westwood is.

And it inspired Els to beat the best players in the world. He said: "I just saw Lee's ball flight, which was amazing. I thought, I've got a way to go before I get that strike on the ball."

Westwood's fall from power during 2001 and 2002 was well documented and Els is full of admiration for the way the Worksop player fought back to reach No.4 again.

"Ernie is a good friend and I'm glad to see him back winning," said Westwood. "It's great to see him back where he should be because when I started on the tour, Ernie was one of the main men."

The result in Miami was a four-stroke win over fellow South African Charl Schwartzel for Els, with no one 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.

"It was great playing with Lee," said Els. "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."

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

At the start of 2007 he announced a three-year battle plan to challenge Tiger Woods as world No.1, 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 ten 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 add 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 learned a little bit more about how to win, just doing it myself for once."