Three days on, and a long haul flight, news of the third Test (cricket’s not big in Augusta, strangely enough), and a looming trip to Orkney (the natural next step from The Masters), and I still have Sunday’s buzz. It’s a surreal recollection, certainly, but one that’s crystal clear; and I’d imagine something similar applies to Trevor Immelman, just in substantially greater doses.

Last year Zach Johnson went from fringe PGA Tour celebrity to headline act on Oprah, Letterman, and every front page in America; Monday morning, Immelman was splashed across every paper I could find in Atlanta, and Green Jacket fever will follow him intensely for the next few weeks. As PGA Rookie of the Year in 2006, he’s had his share of headlines, but life has moved into completely new territory for Trevor Immelman.

Until you’ve watched golf in America, you don’t have a true appreciation for just how big the players are on the other side of the pond; it’s not quite India and cricketers, but it does head in a similar direction. People in the crowd reel off statistics on tournaments played, results achieved, great shots from tournaments past — there’s a rich vein of golfing religion that explains why Gary Player is revered in a way he never quite will be back in South Africa.

Immelman has some way to go to reach Player’s status, but he has taken a substantial step forward, and joined Els and Goosen as South Africa’s marquee players, stepping up from the level of Tim Clark and Rory Sabatini. And where several Major winners from the last decade have a definite one hit wonder to them — Ben Curtis, Rich Beem, Todd Hamilton — you can’t help feeling that we’ve got a lot more still to come from South Africa’s newest Major winner.

The steel and resolve Immelman displayed on a nasty, testing Sunday at Augusta National was reminiscent of the man he kept to second, and while Brandt Snedeker broke down in tears at the press conference after the game, Trevor’s emotions were firmly in check, both at the jacket presentation, and in fielding questions from the media afterwards. That may well have changed later, as the magnitude of his achievement hit home, but the impression on Sunday was of a man who’d won a tournament he firmly believed he could, and was ready to add to that in the future.

The Golf Channel cut to endless vignettes of a young Immelman as his victory approached, from shots of a five-year-old swing (already annoyingly perfect) to interviews with his old headmaster, and those gained greater currency once the green jacket was confirmed. They’re no doubt still playing them (and allowing anchor Frank Nobilo to finally get some sleep), testament not just to the new champion, but to a golfer who made quite an impression on a community that takes the game very seriously indeed.

Immelman’s not the sort to charge off on the celebrity trail — Argentina’s Andres Romero was busy signing waitresses at Hooters on Sunday night, something his South African counterpart certainly wasn’t — but his conference call this afternoon with South African media will be just one of myriad commitments demanded of a Masters champion. Life has changed very suddenly for Immelman, and it’ll take a while for it to sink in, for him and for the rest of us; you can’t help feeling, though, that this year at Augusta was just the beginning for Trevor Immelman.

  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za

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