Player phonecall key to Immelman's maiden Masters win
Monday, 14 Apr 2008 10:19
Trevor Immelman won Masters by three shots from Tiger Woods
Masters champion Trevor Immleman has attributed his first major win to a phone conversation he had with South African legend Gary Player.
The 28-year-old secured a three-shot margin of victory over world number one Tiger Woods after holding his nerve in his final round at Augusta National on Sunday.
The only really nervous moment for the Cape Town-born golfer saw him find the water off his tee shot at the short 16th hole as he carded a double bogey that cut his lead from five shots to three.
However, Immelman got up and down from a green-side bunker for a par at the 17th hole and never looked back as he claimed the green jacket for the first time.
And afterwards, Immelman revealed he had been speaking to Player - a champion at Augusta on three ocassions - for advice on handling the pressure of leading a major tournament from start to finish.
"It meant an awful lot," he said of Player's phonecall.
"I played it to my whole family on speaker phone.
"Mr Player has been at me the whole week, since Tuesday when we played together, telling me to believe in myself, telling me I'm good enough to do it."
Despite receiving regular pep talks from Player, Immleman said the run-in to the finish line had been "just so tough".
"All I kept saying to myself was 'just hang in there and play one shot at a time'," he continued.
"There's a disaster around every corner, as I showed on 16. I just tried to hang in there and I can't believe I did it."