Sports

No longer imminent

• Four months since having a tumor removed, Trevor Immelman rebounds in a big way: By taking home the 2008 Masters title.

Scott Chancey

AUGUSTA — Trevor Immelman skipped the 2006 British Open so he could witness the birth of his son Jacob.

After Immelman won the Masters on Sunday, beating Tiger Woods by three strokes Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club, his son was not as interested in dear ol’ dad as much as he was the 18th flag. Grabbing on to it for a few seconds, he let go just before his father briskly walked away to sign the final scorecard. 

Immelman, the first South African to win the Masters since Gary Player did in 1978, not only gets to bring that flag home along with a $1,350,000 paycheck, he gets a green jacket for good measure.

“Obviously, still, it has not quite sunk in,” said Immelman, whose brother Mark is the golf coach at Columbus State. “I still can’t believe I’m sitting in this position. But you know, I’m really thankful for it.”

After scoring rounds of 68 Thursday and Friday, and a 69 Saturday, he struggled with a 75 in the final round and finished with an 8-under 280. Immelman’s final-round score marked the eighth time in Masters history that the champion posted an over-par score in the final round, but he also became the first winner at Augusta National to have at least a share of the lead in each round since Seve Ballesteros in 1980. And Immelman continued a recent trend at the Masters, making it his second career PGA Tour win after Zach Johnson accomplished the same feat in 2007.

Of course, all those accolades paled in comparison to what Immelman went through during the past year. He had a non-cancerous tumor removed from his diaphragm four months ago, and even missed part of the 2007 season because of a stomach parasite. Now playing well enough to be on top of the golf world, Immelman had even more to be thankful for.

“This has been the ultimate roller-coaster ride, and I hate roller coasters,” said Immelman, whose previous best finish this year was a tie for 17th at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. “You know, it’s kind of weird.”

Immelman won the Nedbank Challenge late last year in South Africa, and then a week later had an operation to remove his tumor and had to “basically start from zero again.”

That did not stop him from pushing himself, fine-tuning his swing, zeroing in on his putts and — most importantly — remaining patient.

“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,” Immelman said. “Here I am missing the cut last week (at the Houston Open), now Masters champion. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

Immelman, who once had a six-stroke lead along the back nine, had three bogeys and a double-bogey, and only birdied the fifth with a three-footer and the 13th with a one-footer. At the first hole, his ball landed in the woods and a long par putt lipped out. Then, on No. 2, a birdie putt to the right failed to break.

After a bad shot at No. 4 that almost landed at the fifth tee, he somehow saved par there. But his round caught some momentum when a beautiful approach shot led to birdie and a two-shot lead at the par-4 fifth. His double-bogey was the result of  hitting the ball into the water at 16, but he still had a comfortable lead because others struggled amid windy conditions.

Woods, who proclaimed at the first of the year that winning the single-year Grand Slam was “easily within reason,” was far from contending despite his second-place finish. Woods struggled on the greens for the fourth consecutive day, and his chances all but vanished when he bogeyed the par-4 14th.

With 13 victories in majors, all Woods can hope for is winning the year’s other three starting with the U.S. Open held June 12-15 at San Diego’s Torrey Pines South Course.

“That’s the way it is,” Woods said. “Some weeks are like that. You have bad weeks and you have good weeks, and certainly this week was not one of my best.”

Brandt Snedeker, who was two strokes behind Immelman going into Sunday’s final round, bogeyed the first hole, and also bogeyed eight others. A second-hole eagle was of little meaning to him after finishing Sunday’s round with a 77 and tied for third overall with former Georgia Tech star Stewart Cink (284).

After attempting to field questions, a teary-eyed Snedeker tried to stay composed.

“(I’ll) try to take some questions, I can’t guarantee anything right now,” said Snedeker, whose eagle on No. 2 tied him for the lead at that point with Immelman. “I’m still obviously a little emotional. Just a rough day out there. You know, it’s hard to put that much effort into something and get so little out. But it’s just part of life, part of growing up.

Obviously I need a little more of that. It’s just tough right now.”

After Snedeker’s eagle, he landed in the rough on the third hole and had a par putt roll over the hole. He already had three bogeys by No. 6.

“I think I’d put myself in a psychiatric ward — put it that way,” Snedeker said of his emotions after the eagle. “I went from extreme highs to extreme lows and that’s what you don’t what to do around here. You try to level yourself out. I feel like I did a good job. I never really got too down on myself. But man, just a lot of emotion, you know?”

Cink, who was paired with Woods on Sunday, also placed third at the 2001 U.S. Open and tied for third at the 1999 PGA Championship. He finished all four rounds at this year’s Masters par or better, including an even-par 72 Sunday. He also had a 72 Thursday, followed by a 69 and 71. After birdieing the first and second holes, however, Cink lost momentum when he bogeyed Nos.

9-11. After finishing 10th in 2006 and 17th last year, Cink seems to be growing more at ease at Augusta National after his 11th entry.

“It’s a comfort level,” Cink said. “It’s a little bit more maturity. It just took me 11 years to mature a little bit.”

For Immelman — who grew up admiring Player since he was a little boy and received a voice mail message from the former champ the night before the final round telling him “You’re gonna win it. I know it” — his maturing on the golf links came full circle Sunday.

“You know, it gave me goose bumps because, you know, he told me that unfortunately he had to leave; he’s on his way to the Middle East to do something over there, and that he wouldn’t be able to watch the coverage, but told me that he believed in me and I need to believe in myself,” Immelman said. “You know, I took all that to heart, and I’m obviously thankful for the message and I’m sure he’s proud of me.”

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