Georgia dreaming
Trevor Immelman turns his tee shot over on Saadiyat Beach Golf Club’s 15th hole and waits for the inevitable splash.
It’s Gary Player’s charity invitational and the next 10 minutes play out like a microcosm of the younger South African’s career ever since he won the 2008 U.S. Masters.
Immelman takes a penalty drop, laser beams a three-wood into the heart of the green and then watches his improbable birdie putt on the par 5 burn the hole.
The near and yet so far frustration mirrors the story of Immelman’s game ever since he tamed Tiger by three strokes and slipped into that life-changing green sports coat with the assistance of Zach Johnson.
Immelman’s only win since was on the secondary Web.com Tour four years ago and he’ll drive up Magnolia Lane this month having missed three successive cuts at Augusta National. It makes him a sidebar story at best during the first major championship of the year but a interesting one nonetheless.
Now 37 and Orlando-based, Immelman revealed how, struggling to breathe a week after winning the Nedbank Challenge in late 2007, a tumour was discovered on his diaphragm. It makes his story even, well, more major. Then, five months after triumphing at Augusta, he started suffering from pain in his left wrist.
“That’s the one thing I’d do differently if I could do it all again, I would have stopped quicker and gotten treatment,” Immelman said. “I wanted to go and defend so I went about a year playing through the pain and taking pain meds and started getting into a lot of bad habits.”
We bet it’s been frustrating? “Oh…like you cant believe. Because like I said, mentally I still feel like I have what it takes, I have the guts for it, but unfortunately the skill level just hasn’t been there.”
Immelman has found a new niche doing analysis for the Golf Channel and as much as he sees it as a future, still harbours ambitions to play as good a game as he now talks. There have been signs of life – an ace (his 13th incidentally) en-route to a T29 finish at the Tshwane Open in Pretoria – before the ‘so far’ narrative returned when he backed up a decent opening 70 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a 79 that gave him another unwanted weekend off.
The opportunity to share 18 holes with Immelman was a special treat and will make my annual Masters binge even more compelling this month. For more eye-opening Augusta insights, may I humbly point you towards our “Who can win, who can’t and why” preview from p42. It’s a weighty read but offers fascinating analysis of the game’s biggest names and will undoubtedly enhance your own Masters viewing. You’ll definitely look at Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie’s Georgia masterpiece in a new light.
There’s also a touching tribute to Augusta’s missing King, Arnold Palmer, and a neat wee media centre tale from Golf Digest’s global commander-in-chief Jerry Tarde to get you in the mood.
Yes it’s April, glorious April. The panio theme tune, the (hopefully) blooming Azaleas, epic escapes from the pine straw, Rae’s Creek, mythical Butler Cabin and hopelessly happy “patrons” everywhere. Amen Corner to April. Enjoy the tournament and the read.