Links golf is the purest form of the game, and the Humewood links has captured the imaginations of Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman ahead of this week’s South African Airways (SAA) Open.
As the three biggest names in the field for an event that features on the European Tour’s schedule, Els, Goosen and Immelman have all expressed a desire to win their national Open on a historic layout such as Humewood.
”We have all been looking forward to coming here,” said defending champion Goosen on the eve of the first round. ”This would be a great course to win it again. We’ve all played the course a few times as amateurs, and I played here when I was in the army. We all know how tough it can play when the wind starts blowing around here.”
Goosen is hunting his third SAA Open title on a course that last saw a South African Open champion in 1957, when Harold Henning triumphed.
”I’m looking forward to the week. I’m not hitting the ball all that great though, and I’ll need to do that around here. But it’s great to be back as defending champion,” he said.
Goosen beat Els in a dramatic final-round duel for last year’s event, and says Humewood’s back nine has great potential for another memorable finish.
”It’s a good golf course to have a battle on again. A lot can happen on the back nine. There are so many great players in the field, so whether it’s me and Ernie again or somebody else, it doesn’t matter. When you’re going down the last, it doesn’t matter who you’re up against. You just want to win the event.”
Els, whose last South African Open triumph came at Durban Country Club in 1998, is also thrilled about returning to a course where he won the 1992 Goodyear Classic.
”I’m very happy to be back. This is the one classic links golf course we have in South Africa. It has all the great characteristics of old links courses. The SAA Open is very important to me, so I take it very seriously. I would love to win it here with this great field.”
And Immelman, winner of the SAA Open in 2003 and 2004, is eagerly anticipating the start of a week in which he plans to immerse himself in all that links golf offers.
”I’ve always loved links golf. It’s such a pure form of the sport. Nowadays we’re so used to playing target golf. With links golf there’s no real perfection. You’re always hitting different shots.
”Every time you’re standing over the ball there are three or four different options you can take. That’s the way I think this game was envisioned when it was invented. It would be a great feeling to win a South African Open on this course.” — Sapa