WHEN Trevor Immelman was a junior golfer, his mother caddied for him. June Immelman, however, laid down two conditions for her services. One, she wouldn't go in the rough and look for balls. Two, she wasn't raking sand in bunkers. If he went to either of those places, she'd be the person with the golf bag standing in the middle of the fairway.
After splitting the fairway on the final hole of the 2008 Masters on Sunday evening, it was evident that the young South African had learned an enduring lesson from his mother about the value of keeping the ball in play. One of the reasons Immelman
won his first major at 28 was because of the accuracy, and length, of his driving. On a day when all around him were losing their heads in breezy, tricky conditions, the champion's assured ball striking made the wind his friend.
Immelman remarked that the day had been "probably the ultimate roller-coaster ride – and I hate roller-coasters." It was one of the few moments in an impressive week when the golfer inadvertently veered off line. The truth was Immelman won his first major thanks to exactly the kind of steady, commanding golf at the head of the field we'd have expected from Tiger Woods if the world No1 had been in the same position.
Johnny Miller once described the Masters as " the great Augusta National Putting competition." However, the 1976 Open winner at Birkdale made the remark before the first cut was introduced, new trees were added and the course was extended to nearly 7,500 yards. Now, though, you still need to be able to pitch and putt with flair, the examination on the re-fashioned course requiring the winning student to deliver a master class in ball striking.
If it's arguable whether Immelman would have won the Masters when Tiger set the low 72-hole margin of 270 in 1997 (the motivation for the tournament committee at Augusta National to bring in the bulldozers and supposedly 'Tiger-proof' the course), his immaculate work off the tee, sharp long iron play and outstanding course management skills proved a winning combination. He found more fairways than Tiger, ten against nine, and his distance average of 272 yards was a couple more than the American.
True, his score on Sunday of 75 was scarred by bogeys at the first, eighth and 12th as well as a double when he went into the water at the 16th. In fact, it was the highest closing round by a Masters' winner since Arnold Palmer shot 75 in 1962. But since the stroke average for the fourth round was 74.66, Immelman effectively matched the "real" par on the day and left it to the rest to challenge his lead.
Having visited Augusta with Justin Rose and Ian Poulter a couple of weeks ago in search of a strategy which could help him contend at the Masters, the South African appreciated how useful Zach Johnson's ploy of playing the par 5s as three-shot holes could also work for him. The balance between risk and reward at Augusta has changed and conservative ploys rather than swashbuckling gambits are now more likely to pay off.
"It was tempting to change my mind, because I had a hybrid club in the bag," he admitted. "But I stuck to my game plan and didn't change the strategy. I was clear in my mind after that trip that I needed to go into those par 5s with something less than a 4- iron. The trip was valuable because it cemented some of the lines off the tees in my mind and where the right spots would be to lay up for pin positions."
If it was no surprise that the Masters dux had done a lot of homework, what was unexpected was that Immelman should find his best form so unexpectedly. Since returning to competitive golf after having a benign tumour removed during the winter, he has missed four cuts and never finished higher than 40th in any other stroke-play event on the PGA Tour.
"I was eager to get back on Tour but my game wasn't quite there," he recalled. "Basically, I felt like I had to start from zero again. I missed the cut at the Shell Houston Open and now I'm the Masters champion. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard."
Having been compared to Ben Hogan by Gary Player, it will be interesting to see if Immelman, who is a couple of years younger than Woods, can foster the kind of rivalry with the game's best player which Tom Watson managed with Jack Nicklaus. Immelman is talented enough to win more than one major and at 28 has time on his side to match the feats of compatriots Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.
His composed, patient performance at Augusta, which elevated him to 15th in the world rankings, was just another indication it's mistaken to assume golf has become a one-man show.
IMMELMAN FACTFILE1979: Born South Africa.
1999: Makes cut in Masters as amateur and turns professional.
2000: Wins South African Players Championship and Kenya Open.
2003: Wins South African Open and World Cup.
2004: Successful defence of South African Open, and wins Deutsche Bank Open.
2005: Fifth in Masters.
2006: Maiden US Tour win at Western Open.
2007: Operation for a tumour on his diaphragm that turns out to be benign.
2008: Wins Masters at Augusta by three shots.
HIGHEST FINAL 18 BY A WINNER75
Trevor Immelman
2008
Arnold Palmer
1962
74
Jack Nicklaus
1972
Gary Player
1961
Herman Keiser
1946
73
Craig Stadler
1982
Jack Nicklaus
1971
Arnold Palmer
1958
FINAL SCORES FROM AUGUSTA(US unless stated, par 72)
280• Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 68 69 75
283• Tiger Woods 72 71 68 72
284• Stewart Cink 72 69 71 72
• Brandt Snedeker 69 68 70 77
286 Phil Mickelson 71 68 75 72
• Padraig Harrington (Ire) 74 71 69 72
• Steve Flesch 72 67 69 78
287• Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 73 71 73
• Andres Romero (Arg) 72 72 70 73
Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 77 70 72 68
288• Paul Casey 71 69 69 79
Nick Watney 75 70 72 71
• Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 73 73 73
289• Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 71 72 74
• Sean O'Hair 72 71 71 75
• Stuart Appleby (Aus) 76 70 72 71
290 • Mike Weir (Can) 73 68 75 74
• Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 71 72 76
• Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 72 72 72
291• Justin Leonard 72 74 72 73
• Bubba Watson 74 71 73 73
• Brian Bateman 69 76 72 74
• Zach Johnson 70 76 68 77
• Boo Weekley 72 74 68 77
292 • Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 74 72 75
Arron Oberholser 71 70 74 77
• JB Holmes73 70 73 76
• Adam Scott (Aus) 75 71 70 76
• Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 69 75 78
• Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 72 73 74
• Stephen Ames (Can) 70 70 77 75
• Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 72 73 74
293 • Jim Furyk 70 73 73 77
• Nick Dougherty (Eng) 74 69 74 76
Heath Slocum 71 76 77 69
295 Justin Rose (Eng) 68 78 73 76
• Todd Hamilton 74 73 75 73
• Johnson Wagner 72 74 74 75
296• Niclas Fasth (Swe) 75 70 76 75
• Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 75 71 76 74
298 KJ Choi (Kor) 72 75 78 73
299 • Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 74 72 81
• David Toms 73 74 72 80
300• Ian Woosnam (Wal) 75 71 76 78
302 • Sandy Lyle (Sco) 72 75 78 77
The full article contains 1322 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
