Trevor Immelman has joined a long list of South African golfing greats by winning his first major championship, the 2008 Masters, by three shots over Tiger Woods. It sounds simple enough but on yet another demanding Augusta National final day, nothing was going to be simple.

“You know, when I woke up this morning, and I peaked outside and saw the trees moving around, I knew it was going to be tough out there for us, and I knew I had to go out there and just stick to my game, and stick to my game plan and play one shot at a time and just be tough,” said Immelman after his round.

“This has probably been the ultimate roller coaster ride, and I hate roller coasters”, added Immelman referring to his recent health issues. “You know, it’s kind of weird. Obviously I win the Nedbank Challenge down in South Africa, a week later I’m having an operation to remove a tumor. That all gets done, I get the right result there, and I make a pretty fast recovery over a six to seven week period and I get back out on to the Tour eager to play, but my game wasn’t quite there.”

“I didn’t feel happy with the way I was playing. I felt like I had to just basically start from zero again.”

“You know, I started chipping away at a few things, and I was missing cuts but just trying to stay positive because I knew I was improving week-after-week. Now here I am after missing the cut last week, Masters Champion. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

Starting the day two ahead of Brandt Snedeker, Immelman bogeyed his very first hole and offered at least some suggestion that maybe there was finally a chink in his armour. His playing partner Snedeker would, however, also bogey the first but when Snedeker eagled the par five second the pair was tied at 10 under.

Immelman’s first birdie of the day came at the 5th after making a great par save from behind the green at the 4th. When he looks back at this day he will recall several important shots but his approach at the 5th will surely be one of them. To a flag that required the upmost precision to access and where there was virtually no margin for error, Immelman pitched to 5 feet and when he made that he was back where he started at 11 under and led by two over Snedeker.

As Snedeker began to struggle over the closing stages of the front nine it was Steve Flesch who began to emerge as a threat to the leader. A bogey at the 7th was followed by a birdie at the 8th and at 8 under he was three behind the leader in outright second place.

Immelman bogeyed the 8th after three putting the par five from 60 feet but made a brilliant par save at the 9th after pulling his approach into the front left trap. As he headed to the 10th tee he was at 10 under and led by two over Flesch, by four over Snedeker and by 6 over Tiger Woods who had just bogeyed the 10th.

Woods was playing two groups ahead of Immelman and on a demanding day kept himself in touch despite a wayward day with the putter. That would not be the case at the 11th however as after finding the front edge of the green he holed a monster for birdie and was at five under and now just five back. With the dangers lurking over the final 9 on Sunday at Augusta there were many who felt that Woods’ move might be a telling blow. The four time champion safely negotiated his way through the dangerous 12th hole while behind him Immelman himself holed a lengthy putt at the 11th although this time for par.

Five behind as he stood on the 13th tee, Woods hit a poor drive at the 13th and had no option other than to lay up. He hit a brilliant pitch that appeared as if it might go in as it spun its way back from behind the hole but it finished five feet below the hole. If he could make it Woods would move within four of Immelman and with the leader in trouble on the 12th the difference could well become only three. After making two great putts at the 11th and 12th holes, Woods’ putter was about to desert him. He missed his birdie at 13, three putted the 14th missed a 14 foot birdie at the 15th and after hitting a great shot to the 16th missed from 7 feet behind the hole.

By the time Woods was finally able to make a putt for birdie at the 18th the horse had all but bolted.

Immelman hit a magnificent pitch to the 13th (another shot he will savour tonight as he looks back) to set up a birdie that would take him to ten under and at that point he led by five over Snedeker and Flesch and by six over Woods. Surely he could not lose from there despite the demands of the closing stretch of holes at Augusta. He parred the 14th, made a solid par at the 15th and moved to the 16th with a five shot lead over Snedeker. The one place he did not want to hit it at the par three was in the water left but he pulled his tee shot well left of where he was aiming and was wet. Now the third shot from the drop zone at the front of the tee was also difficult but he found the green and two putted for double bogey. As he walked to the 17th tee he was only three ahead of Woods who had just holed from 12 feet at the last to move to five under.

Immelman unluckily found the bunker at the 17th but made a great and important par save that gave him a three shot cushion as he played the last. His tee shot was perfect but although he found the fairway he had finished in a deep divot. He hit a superb shot out of there to 20 feet and was able to safely two putt for par and the three shot win.

Woods captured second alone, while Stewart Cink recovered from a mid round battle to finish with two birdies in his last five holes to finish in a share of third with Snedeker who had nine bogies in his round of 77. Flesch, Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson tied for 5th.

“We were all playing under difficult conditions, and we figured if we shot something in the 60s we’re going to be right there with a chance to win and try to put a lot of pressure on Trevor up there,” said Woods after his round. “It turns out that would have been the case. But I didn’t do my part.”

“I learned my lesson there with the press,” added Tiger referring to the talk he initiated re the Grand Slam. “I’m not going to say anything. It’s just one of those things when you’re out there playing, you couldn’t care less. You’re trying to win a golf tournament. You’re trying to put yourself in position, which I did. I just didn’t make the putts I needed to make this entire week. I had the speed right, I just didn’t quite get the line right.”

Immelman arrived at Augusta after an indifferent start to season 2008, having recovered from surgery to remove a benign tumour in his ribcage area. His best finish in seven stroke-play events in 2008 was 40th so he was hardly one of the favoured few prior to this event despite his undoubted talent and potential.

Immelman led this tournament throughout and as a result there are no excuses for his chasers. He outplayed and outthought the world’s greatest golfers and in the process became one of them himself.

Much has been made of the role Gary Player played in Immelman’s tournament preparation for this week and the encouraging messages he sent to him last evening. It might be however that a decision by Gary Player to include Immelman in the 2005 Presidents Cup team as a Captain’s pick – and a perhaps controversial one at the time – provided an the greatest boost for Immelman. As a member of the Presidents Cup Team, Immelman automatically earned access to the PGA Tour, was Rookie of the year in 2006 in a season where he won the Western Open.

Today’s win is a result of a lot of planets aligning but the bold decision by Player is perhaps the most significant.

The best of the Australians was Stuart Appleby who finished a very impressive 14th after his opening round of 76, Adam Scott struggled over the closing nine in 41 to finish 25th, Geoff Ogilvy completed a disappointing week in 39th place while Robert Allenby finished 42nd.

The PGA Tour now moves to Hilton Head Island for this week’s Verizon Heritage tournament.

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