Goosen looking for back to back Majors

Twice U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen is the hottest player going into this week's British Open at Royal Troon, but is wary of being over-confident.

The South African clinched his second U.S. Open crown at Shinnecock Hills last month and completed back-to-back wins at the European Open in Ireland nine days ago.

"I feel like I'm hitting the ball well and I'm putting well," the 35-year-old told a news conference on Tuesday. "I know I can win these tournaments. It's just a matter of doing it.

"I'm confident, although you don't want to get too confident at these types of events. You know you're playing well but this type of golf course can turn around very quickly.

"It's going to be tough this week, especially the way the course played yesterday with the wind.

"You need the right bounces and the golf course is rock hard at the moment," added the world number six.

"The only time you can stop the ball is when you play into the wind. Downwind, you can't even stop it with a sand wedge."

Goosen's best British Open finish was a tie for eighth at Muirfield in 2002, and he relishes the challenge of links course golf.

"I've always liked the Open and felt like if I was going to win a major, this is the one I would have won first," he said. "I like the style of play and how you have to play these courses.

"I just never really got it going enough to give myself a chance to win it before."

The smooth-swinging South African made his major breakthrough with a playoff victory in the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills.

However, the manner of his triumph last month at Shinnecock, where he had to hold off a last-day charge by Phil Mickelson in front of partisan American crowds, proved to him he has the inner strength to handle anything thrown his way.

"It shows you that you can play under that sort of pressure and (deal) with what's going on outside the ropes," Goosen said of his two-shot triumph. "Winning it that way makes it more rewarding.

"You expect that sort of reaction from the U.S. crowds," he added, referring to the raucous home support for Mickelson. "If we were playing in South Africa, the guys would be rooting for me and jumping up and down when I make a putt.

"But I'm sort of used to it when I play over there, and it didn't bother me. They want their guy to win."

Goosen, who has enjoyed a week's break since his victory in Ireland, is scheduled to tee off at 1209 GMT in the British Open first round on Thursday in the company off Australia's Robert Allenby and American Jay Haas.

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