Golf: Green jacket pales next to 'home' win

Published on Thursday 1 October 2009 10:00

SOUTH AFRICAN star Trevor Immelman reckons winning at the "Home of Golf" would top the day he pulled on a Green Jacket as Masters champion.

Immelman was thrilled to win at Augusta in April last year, especially as it came a few months after surgery to remove what proved to be a benign tumour.

But, as he teed up in the 3million Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he hinted that winning at St Andrews would be the sweetest thing a golfer could probably taste.

"I think that to win at the 'Home of Golf' would be the ultimate achievement," he said. "It's something I've always had in the back of my mind, something that's always been on my wish list.

"What's nice now is I get two opportunities now with this tournament and with The Open being staged here every five years.

"I imagine that coming up the 18th on the Old Course winning a tournament would be really incredible, it's definitely a dream."

Immelman, who missed part of this season due to a wrist injury and is still having to take things easy because of that, first played the Old Course in the St Andrews Links Trophy as an amateur.

"Coming to St Andrews has always been special to me," added Immelman, who lost to Scottish amateur Craig Watson in the final of the Amateur Championship at Royal St George's before embarking on his hugely-successful professional career.

"It has so much history and you are reminded about that whenever you go into a shop or go for a walk. When you drive into the town and see the buildings for the first time, it's just incredible.

"My wife doesn't know too much about golf but, when I first brought her here in 2001, she was blown away by the place. And, to this day, it's her favourite place to go."