Can Trevor Immelman regain his momentum in 2013?
Trevor Immelman has been out of form since he stunned spectators at the Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, in April 2008. It has been four long years without a victory and now the South African seems to have made up his mind about breaking
his long winning drought and regain his momentum.
Immelman, a 33-year-old golfer from South Africa, played 24 PGA Tour events last year. His performance in the past season was not something he can be proud of, as he missed the cut 11 times, and was not able to record a single top-10 finish throughout the
year.
His best finish of the season came at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, when he finished tied for the 11th position. He then started the 2013 PGA Tour season with no top-10 finish, until he finished tied ninth at the RBC Heritage, his
10th appearance of the season.
Although Immelman has been exhibiting lacklustre play, as his profile has been almost static since his last victory at Augusta, golf commentators believe that he still has the potential to make a strong comeback.
Winning The Masters was his best performance so far, as he defeated 14-time major champion Tiger Woods in the tournament and finished atop the leaderboard. It was the only major golf championship victory of his career. His phenomenal performance in the tournament
made him the first South African to win at Augusta in over 3 decades.
Tiger Woods, who kept his rivals at bay for years, faltered when he came face-to-face against Immelman. The South African recorded a 3-stroke victory against Woods. His performance was incredibly well in the Masters, which is evident from the fact that he
remained atop the leaderboard throughout the tournament. He carded an eight-under 280, while the former world number one ended up scoring five-under 283.
However, since the triumph at Augusta, there have been off-the-course woes taking a toll on his potential. He found himself in a bit of a trouble when had had to take a break in order to spend some time with his family.
The break caused him to stay out of the Players Championship. Although the Championship is not official, meaning his ranking would have remained the same even if he had participated. However, he regretted giving a miss to the event. He said: “It’s going
to be nice to get home and just decompress. After I won, it was just going from such a huge high to coming down and then having to deal with everything that I had to deal with. I had no clue what to expect from that aspect."
He admitted that he was not putting his best foot forward, which overshadowed his hard-earned victory. “And then going out to play again and not being focused when I was playing. My game has kind of gone sideways since then, too, so that’s been a little
disappointing."
Despite all the talk of how his performance dipped after winning the Masters, Immelman still has potential to find his lost form. His past record, though not so shining, reflects he can regain momentum, as he managed to rack up a number of prominent victories.
He won ten professional events, which includes two impressive wins on the PGA Tour. As far as his winning ratio is concerned, he performed well on different Tours.
Immelman won 4 events on the European Tour. Excluding his best performance—the 2008 Masters, he posted a one-stroke victory in the Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC in May 2004. Another remarkable victory that proves his good skills, came when he won the South
African Airways Open in January 2004.
Given his track record, it would make sense to predict that the South African can gain some major victories in 2013 if he holds his nerve.
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