Immelman's brilliant play leads to Masters victory
Let's give Trevor Immelman some props for putting on a clinic at The Masters this past week. Consider the following stats:
- 1st in driving accuracy (48/56 fairways, 85.71%)
- 4th in driving distance (287.50)
- T2 in greens in regulation (51/72 greens, 70.83%)
- T3 in putting (1.56)
That's pretty much outstanding. No one was as sharp as Immelman from tee to green, and he was able to maintain the laser-like focus for the entire 4 rounds. His only mistake was a double on the 70th hole, the par 3 16th. Whether his ball ended up in the drink because of a cross breeze or because of a mishit, he ended up with a double-bogey and still won by 3 strokes. His drives were well-placed, his approach shots were never far from the pin, his pitching was incredible and he seemed to be making almost every putt. He was able to put himself in perfect spots and as a result he only had 2 3-putts for the entire round. Immelman became the first South African to win the Masters since Gary Player in 1978, exactly 30 years ago.
Immelman had a few obstacles to overcome on his way to his Masters victory. Last year he contracted some kind of parasite and followed that up with a stomach infection which caused him to lose 22 lbs in 3 weeks. It had taken Immelman 3 years to bulk up from 155 to 178 before contracting the parasite, essentially losing 3 years' work in 3 weeks. In December, Immelman complained of having some chest pain and an MRI showed that he had a benign tumor. After surgery he was out of action for approximately 6 weeks and then started practicing and preparing for the Masters. This guy can obviously deal with adversity. I hope he can win at least 1 other tournament this year, because that would really validate his win at Augusta. Zach Johnson was able to do so last year and the way that Immelman was striking the ball suggests that he is in top form.