Sporting heroes inspire others to become sporting heroes, as new Masters champion Trevor Immelman testified following his two strokes win over Tiger Woods on Sunday.
As a young boy growing up in Cape Town, Immelman looked up to the legendary Gary Player, and it was the three-times Masters champion who was still inspiring his compatriot as he headed for his date with destiny.
Having missed the cut in his record 51st apearance in the tournament, Player left Augusta for a business trip to the Middle East but not before leaving a voice mail for a player he has known since he was a five-year-old boy.
“It gave me goosebumps because ... he told me that he believed in me and I need to believe in myself,” he said.
“And he told me I’ve got to keep my head a little quieter when I putt. He said I’m just peaking too soon.”
“He told me to just go out there and be strong through adversity, because he said that adversity would come today and I just had to deal with it,” Immelman said.
The South African has dealt with plenty of adversity of late.
It was a minor miracle that he was even playing in the Masters having undergone a major operation just 15 weeks ago to remove a golf-ball sized benign tumour from his diaphragm.
He was hugely relieved when tests showed the growth was non-cancerous, but still had to undergo an operation that involved cutting open his back, probing between his ribs and slicing through a muscle to remove the tumor.
That left him bedridden with a large incision scar and thoughts of glory at Augusta were a million miles away.
“One minute, the week before, I’m winning a golf tournament and the next week I’m lying in a hospital bed, and you just realize that it just can get taken away fo fast,” he said.
On his return to the tour, he failed to make a single cut in the first three strokeplay tournaments he played in, but what he called the “mystique and magic” of the Masters proved to be a powerful and potent therapist.
Immelman was tied for the lead with Justin Rose after the first round, then he led by one from Brandt Snedeker at the halfway stage and doubled that to two over the same player after the third round.
With a cold, swirling wind making pars had to come by, and Tiger Woods in hot pursuit, Immelman stood firm and he had a three-foot birdie putt for a five stroke lead on the seventh.
But with nerves starting to jangle, he missed that and followed with an alarming bogey six at the next.
Another bogey looked to be beckoning after a poor approach shot to the ninth, but he got down in two on the huge green and set off for the 10th and the three holes of Amen Corner with a renewed spring in his step.
He was never seriously threatened again despite a understandably nervy finish.
Golf was always in Immelman’s blood. He began playing the game at age five, following in the footsteps of his golf teaching brother Mark. His father Johan is the commissioner of the Sunshine Tour in South Africa.
He joined the European PGA Tour in 1999 and since then has mainly played in the shadow of South African greats Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, with five major title wins between them.
Now they are three, and it’s the youthful Immelman who has time on his side.
“I’ve always dreamed about winning majors and deep down I always thought I was good enough,” he said.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS