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Ernie Els was a no-show at The Gallery on Monday, but he has been practicing.

He hit balls on Sunday at the tony Stone Canyon Country Club. While Els refined his game, nearby golfers strained for comportment.

"I can't believe I'm hitting balls next to Ernie Els," Jeffrey Meredith whispered excitedly.

While the Stone Canyon membership boasts many skilled players, the South African's buttery-smooth swing definitely stood out on the practice field.

Director of golf operations Todd Huizinga broke out a shag bag of his finest Titleists for the fourth-ranked golfer in the world.

As the sun set, it was up to club service employee Toby Taylor to wade into the sea of golf balls and separate Els' top-shelf variety from the similar-looking range balls.

"It shouldn't be a problem," assistant pro Chance Cecil assured the chagrined range attendant, "the numbers are slightly thinner than our other practice balls and they'll probably all be clustered around the flagsticks."

It has been five years since Canadian Mike Weir emerged as an elite golfer, winning the Masters, the Nissan Los Angeles Open and the Bob Hope Desert Classic in the first third of the PGA Tour season.

Weir has won eight tournaments in his career but hasn't been an elite-type force since that lightning strike of 2003.

Monday at The Gallery Golf Club's practice facility, he spent more than an hour hitting wedges and short irons under the eye of a swing coach and a video operator. Weir's reputation is as one of the game's top short-game players.

He is ranked No. 17 in sand saves and No. 28 in putting, but is a distant No. 171 in driving distance. At 5 feet 9 inches and about 150 pounds, Weir isn't apt to become a long-drive terror. So he works on his short game.

When he departed the range, he left a souvenir: a two-foot stretch of divot that was about four inches wide. Not a single one of his many wedges went outside the lines.

The Tucson Conquistadores are coordinating the army of some 900 volunteers this week. Some of them do more than coordinate.

Conquistador Ted Doe, for instance, helps run the driving range and its practice areas. Doe watched Monday as many of the world's top players launched drives into the desert air.

"Watching them hit the ball is magical,'' Doe said Monday. He was particularly impressed by the tiny swatch of divots left by the pros.

Many amateurs cut up and leave a large patch of damaged grass. The pros leave neat little 2-foot-by-2-foot cutouts.

Doe has been a Conquistador for about 15 years; he is the patriarch of one of Tucson's most successful sports families.

His son, Brady Doe, played football at Sabino High School and then became a starting defensive back at Purdue. One of his daughters, Megan Doe, was a Sabino softball standout who became an All-Big Ten outfielder at Michigan.

Another daughter, Kaitlin Doe, attended high school in San Diego, then became a soccer player at Wake Forest. She is the only one in the Doe family who has splintered off into golf. She is an intern, a tournament-services assistant, working for staff of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships.

J.B. Holmes has spent more time on television lately than Roger Clemens.

Holmes garnered CBS network coverage on Super Bowl Sunday, when he edged Phil Mickelson on the first playoff hole to win the FBR Open. A week later, Holmes was back on national television as part of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Monday, Holmes learned his first-round matchup with Tiger Woods also hit the national airwaves. The Golf Channel will show Wednesday's match starting at 12:02 p.m.

"Anytime you're on TV, you're in good shape," Holmes said.

"Every week, you have a chance to be in the spotlight if you play well enough. I've got a jump-start — I don't have to do anything to be in the spotlight. It'll be fun. It'll be a good experience, and I'm looking forward to it."

Arnold Lopez, 71, and Gil Montoya, 77, tried unsuccessfully to buy Match Play gear off the back of volunteer David Johnson, 71, as he manned the ropes at Hole 14. "We'll give you $20," the bargain-hunting Montoya said. "This stuff is used." Johnson retorted, "It's hardly used, since I've been sitting in a chair all day doing almost nothing."

Besides, the bidding started too low. Johnson had to pay $85 for his volunteer's uniform.

"They give us lunch and threw us a party, so I can't complain," Johnson said.