Of the six South Africans teeing up on Thursday at the 108th US Open, being played at Torrey Pines, San Diego, Trevor Immelman seems to have hit some form at the right time.
Immelman, who won this year’s Masters to become only the second South African golfer after Gary Player to win at Augusta, will be joined by compatriots Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Richard Sterne, Tim Clark and Rory Sabbatini.
After his Masters victory, Immelman missed the cut at the Byron Nelson and Wachovia Championships, but bounced back at last week’s St Jude tournament.
The South African was involved in a three-way play-off, eventually losing to Justin Leonard at the second extra hole.
Although Immelman did not play in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines earlier this year, he has some knowledge of the course. He won the 1998 US Amateur Public Links championship there, but with the course set up at 7 643 yards this year — the longest US Open course by 300 yards — Immelman will have to be on top of his game.
Els, seeking his third Open title after wins in 1994 and 1997, has also been struggling with his game of late. Like Immelman, he missed consecutive cuts in his last two outings and admitted the mental side of his game was not up to scratch.
Els decided not to play at the St Jude championship but instead opted to spend the week working on his mental preparation and visited golf guru Butch Harmon.
Els also missed the Buick Invitational but has tasted victory at the Torrey Pines layout when he won the 1984 World Junior Championships.
But the three-time Major champion is expecting a whole new challenge from the golf course he last played in 2005.
”The course will certainly play a lot firmer than it does during Buick week, which is at the start of the year when the course is pretty soft,” wrote Els on his website. ”The greens will be firmer too and obviously very slick. The primary rough is going to be pretty juicy. You can catch a lie sometimes, but one of the big things here, as with all US Opens, is going to be hitting fairways.”
Of the four other South Africans, Goosen and Sterne are most probably best placed to win the country’s sixth US Open title.
By his own high standards, Goosen has not had the best of years so far, but he does know how to win Majors, with his two US Open wins in 2001 and 2004.
Sterne’s form has also been patchy but he has performed well at Torrey Pines in the past when he was runner-up at the World Juniors in 1997. — Sapa