Goosen enjoying new found status

Retief Goosen has about him the air of a man who feels he might wake up soon.

The likeable South African has recently been doing what every professional dreams about doing - to wit, going out day after day and playing near-perfect golf.

Having dispelled all talk of his will-to-win falling short of his undoubted talent by leading the US Open at Southern Hills from start to finish last month, the shots have flowed with scarcely a falter.

Goosen was still in the groove in the European Open when his putting went into overdrive during a last-round 66 which earned him a tie for sixth place, and it was still going strong when he won the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond last week, again leading all the way.

There is a certain irony in the fact that though he putted superbly throughout the US Open, the one putt that gets talked about is the tiddler he missed to clinch the championship on the 72nd hole. He seems faintly amused and puzzled by the reaction. "I wasn’t as disappointed as many other people were. The third putt was probably more difficult. It would have been nice to have won it there and then, but the play-off the next day made it extra special."

That putt was a solitary glitch in what has been a masterly spell of golf and, all in all, it’s not a bad way to go into an Open.

Goosen, never a bundle of nerves to begin with, is about as relaxed as a man can get. The fact that trying to win two tournaments in a row is a tall enough order without one of them being a major doesn’t bother him.

Indeed, he thinks that the spectacular run could stand him in good stead here.

"I’ll be trying a little bit harder," he says, "but I’m quite comfortable and if I play well enough to win, it would be great. It’s good to have played well and then stayed that way going into this week."

There’s little doubt that the win at Southern Hills has had its effect. Even Goosen, who is a shy man, concedes that it has changed his outlook.

"Now that I’ve been there, I know I have more chance than I had before."

There’s no doubt that he has about him these days a quiet authority and a presence which was not evident before the breakthrough.

He’s enjoying the limelight and delighted to have the even tenor of his rounds disturbed by autograph hunters. "In the past, I just zoomed around the course. Now I can’t get to the next tee without having to sign a hundred autographs.

"It’s all new to Tracy [his wife] and I, but it’s not worrying us and it hasn’t changed anything about our lives. You don’t really think about the money. When you play well it just comes in. It isn’t everything and you can only spend so much, but it’s good to be able to live comfortably."

With £1.1 million picked up over the last three weeks, "comfortably" would seem to be an awfully good way of putting it.

The course, he reckons, is much tougher than it was in 1996. Of yesterday’s practice round, he said: "The first nine into the wind was as tough as you can get - we just hit driver, 3-iron at about every hole. The way the wind is blowing you can’t get away with hitting a lot of irons off the tee. You are going to have to hit drivers."

There were similarities with Southern Hills in that you had to hit the fairways and stay out of the rough and, in the case of Royal Lytham, the bunkers. "The bunkers have been deepened and the rough is so punishing."

The bunkers were soft and the ball was plugging. "I hit a 2-iron into a bunker today and it was underground." The rough was "just as bad as it was at Carnoustie," a chilling thought for one and all. "You will be lucky sometimes to get it back on to the fairway."

Goosen went out yesterday with three compatriots - Ernie Els, David Frost and Gary Player, who at the age of 65, is playing in what could be his last Open, his exemption having run out.

"It is great to play with Gary before what is possibly his last Open. The last hole, he was a little emotional. It is a shame. He has done so much for the game and it is great to see him. He played so well today. He was really hitting the ball well. Hopefully, he can pull something out of the bag this week and maybe come back next year."

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