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In 1961 South African Gary Player was the benefactor of an Arnold Palmer slip-up and won the Masters. For Player and his native South Africa it was a really big deal. At the time the Masters was the only major championship not won by a non-American and Player's victory was the first of what would be many others by international players.
Since Players win 47 years ago, he went on to victory two other times at Augusta National in 1974 and '78. But while others from England and Spain saw their fellow countrymen win, Player has been the only South African to wear a green jacket, that is until this year.
Was Trevor Immelman's victory a surprise? Yes and no. Quite frankly I would of thought that a Retief Goosen or an Ernie Els or even a Rory Sabbatini would be eating a palmetto sandwich with Player in the champions' locker room, but in the years to come it will be Immelman.
As for Player, he probably couldn't of been happier with Immelman's victory. He knew Immelman's father Johan, who was CEO of the Sunshine Tour until a few months ago. Player has also always given Trevor help and support. And as you can see from the photo that we "borrowed" from CBS Sports, Player has been an important part of Trevor's life since he was five years old.
As for the golf side of things, Immelman worked hard on his game following in the footsteps of his brother Mark, who is nine years older and also a professional golfer. Mark has always been his coach and got Trevor playing to scratch by the time he was 12. Trevor's family also made many sacrifices financially to make sure that Trevor was able to travel the world and play the best junior players. He ventured to the United States and was runner-up in the 1997 US. Junior Amateur and in the same year also lost in the finals of the British Amateur and the New Zealand Amateur. But he did win the U.S. Amateur Pub-links Championship and will be the first champion since that event began in 1922 to win a major championship.
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The big reason was his junior season in which he had no control over. In 2007 after finishing third at the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii and getting to the semi-finals of the Match Play, Immelman saw things take a weird turn at the Masters. He woke up the Wednesday morning of Masters week shaking and dehydrated and spent the day in a Augusta hospital. He was barely able to play and did finish T55th but the next week at Hilton Head he withdrew. He was finally diagnosed with parasite and spent the next month on a rice and lactose-free diet. He returned to play in the Wachovia, but with a 22-pound weight loss he was significantly weaker and didn't really play well except for the PGA Championship in which he finished T6th.
Immelman put on weight, got stronger and his game improved enough for him to play on the International team at the Presidents Cup. Then a couple of months later in December he won the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and the golf world thought he was back. But that would be short-lived.
| Players that have had a share of the lead after every Masters round and won: (those with a bold * were true wire to wire winners) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Player | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1934 | Horton Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1941 | *Craig Wood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1946 | Herman Keiser | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1947 | Jimmy Demaret | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1960 | *Arnold Palmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1964 | Arnold Palmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1972 | *Jack Nicklaus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976 | *Raymond Floyd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1980 | Seve Ballesteros | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Trevor Immelman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
With the good news that he was finally well again and didn't have cancer, Immelman started playing again shortly after the Dec. 18 surgery. He was able to return to the PGA Tour at the start of February at the FBR Open, but his game hasn't been sharp. Coming into the Masters he wasn't what you would call a true favorite to win the Masters. In eight starts he had only made five cuts and his best finish was T17th after winning just one match at the Accenture. In his other starts his best was a T40th.
After missing the cut in Houston the week before the Masters, his stats weren't very impressive. He ranked 120th in driving accuracy, 55th in greens hit and 202 in putting average. His scoring average of 7128 ranked T114th and with a birdie average of 2.45 a round that ranked him 199th, you can see why he wasn't a top choice at the Masters. Still after his first-round 68 that earned him a share of the lead, he told the media that despite the poor results he had felt that his game was improving even though the results didn't show it.
| Trevor Immelman is the 10th international champion of the Masters and is the second from South Africa (Gary Player is the other). Of the 10 international winners, they have won 17 times. Immelman is the fifth South African to win a major championship, here is the list: |
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| Majors won | Player | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | Gary Player | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Bobby Locke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Ernie Els | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Retief Goosen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Trevor Immelman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
And that is just what he did. Adversity did knock on the door in the form of a couple loose shots. After a stellar tee to green game the first three days, Immelman missed four fairways on Sunday, the same amount he missed the first three days. Immelman also missed eight greens on Sunday, five less than he missed the first three days. After making just two bogeys the first 54 holes, he made three bogeys and a double on Sunday. Many may say that he was handed the championship, but since he played so great the first three days and was able to hold on for dear life on Sunday it was enough to win. Still nobody made a run at Immelman, which helped him and he did make the clutch putts on holes like nine and 11.
Now the big question is: Can he can win another major? Of course everyone is asked that question and many have said yes to players like Paul Lawrie, Shaun Micheel, Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton. Same thing goes for Zach Johnson last year, who a month after capturing the green jacket won again at the BellSouth. But there is no question about Immelman. If he stays healthy he will become a good player that will win another major. The big problem for him is putting. If he could master that part of his game he could turn into that "Tiger-killer" that many fans would like to see. One thing for sure, he was leaking oil big time at the end. His final round 75 ties Arnold Palmer in 1962 for the highest final round for a Masters Champion. Immelman also becomes the first champion to shoot a score over par in the final round since Craig Stadler shot 73 in 1982. He will not get as lucky of a break from Tiger Woods in the final stage of another major so he will have to learn from this experience and be better down the stretch.
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Keys to victory for Trevor Immelman
Of course, Immelman has to thank Tiger Woods for not having any kind of game, especially on the back nine on Sunday. Woods looked out of sort the whole week, but still finished second, just three back.
Immelman was 10-under on the par 4s, nwe record. The Masters record was 8-under by Tiger Woods in 2001. Last year, Masters champion Zach Johnson played the par 4s in 9-over par.
This showed how really awesome Immelman played as he didn't "overpower" Augusta National like many do. On the par 5s he was 3-under par. Historically at the Masters since World War II the only ones worse on the par 5s was Craig Stadler at 1-over in 1982, Jack Nicklaus at 2-under in 1963 and Larry Mize at 2-under in 1987. Sam Snead in 1952 was 3 under par.
Here are some other keys for his victory:
- Immelman made only five bogeys all week. That ties the Masters record, joining Jimmy Demaret in 1940, Jack Nicklaus in 1965, Ben Crenshaw in 1995 and Phil Mickelson in 2004.
- Immelman was first in driving accuracy, hitting 48 of 56 fairways. Making this important is the fact that last year’s champion Zach Johnson was second in that stat. Dating back to 1981 the best ranking for a winner in driving accuracy was second in 1996 by Nick Faldo and before last year only two champions finished in the top-five in this stat.
- Immelman was T2nd in greens in regulation, hitting 51 of 72 greens. This has become a very important stat at Augusta because since 2000 every champion but one finished in the top-four in greens hit.
- Immelman also had a great putting week, taking only 112 putts which ranked him T4th. More importantly he only made two three-putts. To put this into perspective, in a week in which everyone had at least one three-putt, Immelman had only two. Previously the reputation of champions was not to take many three-putts, but last year Zach Johnson had six and Tiger Woods had four in 2005 so this is a change of pace.
- Immelman led scrambling stats as he failed to get it up and down just four times.
Immelman's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 48 of 56 ..... (1st) Driving average: 287.5 ..... (4th) Greens hit: 51 of 72 ....... (T2nd) Putts: 112 (28.00 a rd) .... (T4th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 2 1-putt greens: 30 2-putt greens: 38 3-putt greens: 2 Play on par 3s: +5 Play on par 4s: -10 Play on par 5s: -3 Eagles: 0 Birdies: 15 ................ (T4th) Scrambling: 17 of 21 (80.95%)... (1st)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What this win means for Immelman
- Just like that, in a span of one event, Trevor Immelman not only changes his year, but dramatically changes his career. With the win, Immelman will pretty much get a free pass for the next five years on the PGA Tour and for the next year he will play in every elite event. This win will be easily worth more than a million dollars and as for endorsements, the sky is the limit. With his good looks and charm, this win will be worth at least $2 million.
- There have only been four players win the Masters in their 20s in the last 21 years. Immelman is the 16th champion of the Masters in his 20s and other than Tiger Woods the last winner in his 20s was Jose Maria Olazabal in 1994. Before that you have to go back to Larry Mize in 1987.
- More importantly, Immelman will be a member for life at Augusta National and will be able to attend every Masters champion function with his mentor Gary Player.
Tiger Woods - Why he lost
Hard to image Tiger Woods not putting any pressure on Immelman on Sunday.
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If he could of possibly drained that putt short putt on four it could have made a difference. But the key miss was at 13. Five feet from a birdie, he missed that putt and it took the air out of his sails. He also three-putted the 14th again, another dagger into his chances for the slam.
Here are some other keys for his loss:
- Tiger Woods played the par 5s in 4-under this week. As a professional it matches the worst he has ever done at the Masters. He was also 4-under in the par 5s in 2003 when he finished T15th
- Tiger Woods made 11 birdies this week. As a professional it is just one more than his least amount of birdies at the Masters (he had 10 in 2007).
- Woods attempted 120 putts this week. In his starts at the Masters as a professional he has only had more on two occassions: 123 in 2004 and 121 in 2001.
Woods's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 38 of 56 ..... (T30th) Driving average: 283.9 ..... (T11th) Greens hit: 50 of 72 ....... (T7th) Putts: 120 (30.00 a rd) .... (T29th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 1 1-putt greens: 24 2-putt greens: 45 3-putt greens: 2 Play on par 3s: +1 Play on par 4s: -2 Play on par 5s: -4 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 11 ................ (T28th) Scrambling: 16 of 22 (72.73%)... (4th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This loss mean for Woods
- Don't ever look for Tiger to be talking about the Grand Slam again. After he played on Sunday he told one reporter that he learned a very important lesson this week so we may never see an honest Woods tell us that the slam is a possibility until after he wins it.
- Woods ended his Masters streak of not shooting in the 60s with a third round 68. He had gone 11 rounds before breaking the mark. One negative stat that Woods has at the Masters is that he hasn’t broke 70 in the final round in seven straight Masters, dating back to 2001.
- With three runner-up finishes in his last five majors, Woods has five runner-up finishes in majors, meaning he could not only catch Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major wins but also equal the number of runner-ups that Nicklaus has in major championships.
