Familiarity breeds success

TREVOR IMMELMAN made use of immense local knowledge to capture his second consecutive South African Airways Open title at the Erinvale Course yesterday.

The resident pro held his nerve as the Helderberg wind carved up the rest of the field. After predicting that he would attack swiftly on the final day so that he could win the tournament, Immelman kept to his promise to shoot an impressive 67 which completed a four-round aggregate tally of 276.

Immelman won the tournament by three shots from Scotland's Alastair Forsyth and Englishman Steve Webster.

But it was his own familiarity with the course which was initially his own nemesis.

"It's a huge advantage to play here but at times it can work against you," he said. "I've hit so many shots from so many different positions on this golf course.

"Sometimes I get the yardage and I doubt it, whether it will play shorter or not, and that happened on the first two days. On those two days I was thinking way too much there.

"I was getting the yardage and I was thinking too much about it. We just decided on Friday night that we weren't going to leave any more wedge shots short of the hole. I wanted to be aggressive and trust the yardages."

With the victory, Immelman becomes the first player since compatriot Ernie Els to successfully defend a European Tour title.

And while Els' double victory came in the Heineken Classic in 2002 and 2003, Immelman also became the first player since another South African legend, Gary Player in 1976-'77, to win back to back SAA Open titles.

Yet it was more than his ability to play an unforgiving south easterly in blustery conditions that made him champion. Immelman did it the only way he knew how by all-out attack.

It was his fifth professional title all on the African continent following his 2000 Tusker Kenya Open win and his 2000 Vodacom Players Championship and 2003 Dimension Data Pro-Am titles.

Immelman's prospects were helped by his two nearest challengers overnight leaders Craig Lile and Denmark's Anders Hansen each playing the final three holes in five over par, dropping them out of the race.

Asked about fulfilling his own prediction, Immelman remained humble after a victory which netted him close to £75,000. He said: "I wasn't going to sit there and hope that I played well. I felt like I was playing well and I felt if I played my best it would be tough for the other guys to beat me.

"Today my game plan was for me to trust my swing and not back down from any shots. Just trust it and be aggressive. I stuck with that game plan for the back nine and tried to hit the best shots that I can."