SA golf depth shown at The Open
Brad Morgan
19 July 2005
Tiger Woods confirmed his position as the top golfer in the world when he claimed the British Open at Saint Andrews over the weekend. While he went unchallenged, claiming victory by five shots, South Africa's strength in depth was clearly displayed.
The nature of the course made it a bit of an up-and-down tournament for the South African contingent of Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Tim Clark, Trevor Immelman, and David Frost, but throughout the four rounds the names of the five were prominent.
Retief Goosen was the best of the South African performers, finishing in a tie for fifth after two good rounds and two rounds over par.
In second place
Late on Saturday, in the third round, he was second on the leaderboard, behind only Woods, after firing a superb six-under par 66. After previous rounds of 68 and 73 he was on 9-under par 207 heading into the final 18 holes.
Unfortunately for the Goose he slumped to a
two-over 74 in the last round to finish on seven-under 281. It was probably most disappointing to Goosen himself, especially considering his meltdown over the final 18 holes of the US Open.
Tied for fifteenth were David Frost and Trevor Immelman, on 5-under par 283.
Frost's performance was pleasantly surprising. It was also his best finish of 2005.
Qualified for The Open
In recent years Frost's world ranking has slipped all the way down to 286 as he concentrates on David Frost Wines. He was, in fact, only in the British Open after qualifying at Atlantic Beach in January.
It was a slow start for Frost as he opened with a 77. However, he then fired the best round of the tournament, a seven-under par 65, to pull his challenge right.
A steady closing two rounds of level-par 72 and a three-under 69 resulted in a strong showing for Frost, whose performance resulted in huge bounds of 27 places up on the US PGA Tour money list and
77 places up on the European Order of Merit.
Trevor Immelman featured prominently during the first two rounds, carding a four-under par 68, followed by a two-under par 70, for a six-under 138 mark at halfway.
While he was steady over the final two rounds, Immelman failed to make the shots necessary to move up the leaderboard, going one-over par for the final 36 holes to finish alongside David Frost.
Four birdies in five holes
Tim Clark, along with Retief Goosen, was in second or third for a good portion of Saturday, but fell off the pace to finish with a two-under par 70. That was a disappointing effort after he had made an electrifying start that netted him four birdies in the first five holes.
Clark was on six-under par 210 with 18 holes to play, but a final round of 74 saw him fall to four-over 284 for the championship.
Heading into the tournament, Ernie Els was rated the second favourite by bookies behind the eventual
winner Tiger Woods. Unfortunately for the "Big Easy" the inconsistency that has bugged his game in recent months was again on display, with putting costing him dearly.
He opened with a two-over par 74, but then responded well by shooting a five-under 67 in the second round, including eight birdies.
Out of contention
In round three Els struggled to find any momentum, stumbling to a three-over par 75, to fall out of contention. Over the final 18 holes he, at last, played well for the first time in the tournament - by his own admission - even though the pins were in their toughest positions of the four rounds.
Unfortunately for the world number-three, a double-bogey on the fourteenth upset his bid for a hot finishing round, and he ended with a two-under 70 for a four-round total of two-under par 286.
On a positive note, the fact that Els finished last amongst the five-strong South African challenge demonstrated clearly how healthy
South African golf is at present. A look at the Official World Golf Rankings backs this up.
Rankings
Following the British Open, Els is ranked third in the world. Retief Goosen occupies fifth place. Tim Clark is in seventeenth place. Rory Sabbatini, at forty-fourth, is the fourth South African in the top 50.
Trevor Immelman occupies fifty-fifth place, and Durban-born Nick Price is in seventy-second spot. Richard Sterne is close to the top 100, ranked at number 107.
Frost, as was previously mentioned, is ranked 286. There are 11 South Africans ahead of him in the world rankings.
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