Goosen's stroll down easy street
288 would, in fact, have been good enough only for a share of 24th and would have finished a distant 13 shots behind the richly talented and implacable South African Retief Goosen. From the time he opened with a 69 on Thursday, there was little doubt the recently crowned US Open champion had another major title within his grasp. He copper-fastened that view with a 66 on Friday, escaped with even par on 72 on Saturday despite having played 'rubbish' before returning to his majestic best yesterday with a closing round of 68.
The rest, literally, were nowhere. Lee Westwood played solidly throughout for eight under along with the fast finishing Australians Richard Green and Peter O'Malley on as low-key a final day as I can recall. There was a decent crowd, the weather was the best of the week, Goosen demonstrated why he is currently rated the best golfer in the world but it didn't seem to matter. Hardly a cheer rent the Kildare air at any stage of a day that simply meandered to a dreary, predictable conclusion.
Not that it was Goosen's fault. He can't help it if his personality hardly strikes a chord with his galleries or that his golf is of such a rhythmic quality and his swing so impeccably repetitious that after a while one's attention seems to wander. And with the others simply playing for second, the winner's cheque for €550,000 and a first European Open was Goosen's for the taking long before the final putt was holed. It was Goosen's 11th win on the European Tour and the final 68 didn't contain a single blemish four birdies, at the 3rd, 5th, 10th and 18th, and 14 pars.
Boring? Perhaps. Highly impressive? Definitely. Nobody swings a club better right now than the 35 year-old who was born in Pietersburg, South Africa and who has homes in Florida and London. He cruises to the top of the European order of merit having displaced compatriot Ernie Els and already looks a good bet to retain the crown he also wore at the end of the 2002 campaign.
He now has a total of €1,753,235, nearly €500,000 more than Els. This is his first time winning tournaments back-to-back and among his other distinguished achievements were: (a), he is the first player to win an event in his first start after winning a major championship since Tiger Woods won the 2000 US PGA and followed it with the WGC-NEC in Akron; (b), he has won more in the last two tournaments (€1,486,647) than he did in his first five years on the European Tour from 1993-97; (c), is the first South African winner of the European Open bringing to 11 the total of different nationalities to have won since the first tournament in 1978.
Goosen has withdrawn from this week's Loch Lomond Scottish Open so as to be fresh and ready for his challenge on the Open Championship beginning at Royal Troon on Thursday week. That's the level his game has now reached and with his confidence sky high, another major may be only just around the corner.
"The European Open is a great event and it's great to have finally won it", he said. "I played much better today and felt a lot more confident. I was tired at the beginning of the week and now I'm really tired. At the start, maybe I was just giving you guys something to write about. It was a new course and I was looking forward to playing it. I liked the course and the way it was set up and I knew if I played well I had a chance of winning."
Goosen went into the final round with a shot lead over Jose-Manuel Lara from Spain with Lee Westwood looking a distinct danger another stroke back. But their challenge and that of the other closest pursuers never materialised and Goosen admitted to some surprise at that.
"Lara struggled over the first five holes and I think Lee also struggled and I couldn't believe I had a five shot lead", he said. "I expected somebody to come up and get a bit closer but I thought if I finished at 12 under, it would be good enough, and it was nice to finish with a birdie and go one better. I holed putts for pars at the 3rd and 11th and otherwise I was pretty much putting for birdie at every hole.
"I'm out of Loch Lomond. I discussed it with Tracy (his wife) and decided it would be better for me to mentally relax and get ready for Troon. My mum is in London and my brother is coming over so we'll have a nice family time. I will probably have four days off and then start hitting some balls again at the weekend. I hope I can keep up the run at Troon. It will probably be windy there too so to play like this would be great. Hitting the right shots into the wind will be helpful."
It is often claimed that 99% of golf is played between the ears. If that is the case, then the man they call The Goose is home and dry already! It all looks like a stroll in the park but he insists: "You are always under pressure. It is never going to go away. It's part of the game. I am just learning to trust my abilities under pressure. We all hit the ball well and it's just the guys who can putt under pressure and hit the right shot that come out winning at the end of the week. Things just creep into your mind so easily. You start not to look down the middle of the fairway but at a bush on the side of the fairway."
Just as well there aren't too many bushes at the South Course at The K-Club nor, come to think of it, at Royal Troon.
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