Find Me A 100 Winner - Trevor Immelman

Profile / Paul Krishnamurty / 12 February 2008 / 1 Comments

South African primed for a return to the world's best and a must bet at 110, says Paul Krishnamurty

The strength in depth of the field for the Northern Trust Open means that we've got a much bigger range of proven winners than usual to choose from. In particular, I had to rub my eyes when I saw odds of [110.0] for Trevor Immelman. Could this really be the same character who destroyed a world-class field on a proper golf course just ten weeks ago? OK, there were only 11 opponents in the Nedbank Challenge but I doubt many could have lived with him that week - Justin Rose was the sole challenger over the weekend at Sun City. The enduring message was crystal clear - after a nightmare year with illness and injury, Immelman was back.

This time last year, Immelman was ranked well inside the world's top-10 and widely regarded to be a potential major winner. The reason his star has waned considerably in the meantime is a terrible run of luck with illness and injuries. Worst of all, the South African suffered a debilitating stomach illness which caused him to lose over 20lb, and naturally his golf suffered accordingly. It was only towards the end of the season that the 28-year-old returned to full fitness and began to find his best form again.

Hopefully now Trevor can return to the form of 2006, when he really began to deliver on the promise shown for several seasons in Europe. The highlight was beating Woods and Singh down the stretch for his first PGA Tour event in the Western Open. There was never a hint of fluke about it - in fact it was overdue having finished runner-up twice earlier that summer. After a tremendous breakthrough season, Immelman finished seventh on the money list.

Earlier that summer, he'd also finished seventh at this week's venue, Riviera Country Club, in the Nissan Open. My only doubt - and partly the reason his odds are so big - is that this is only his second start of the season. Hopefully though a moderate effort at Scottsdale a fortnight ago will have tuned him up for the most prestigious mainstream PGA Tour event of the year to date. And even if he doesn't win this week, Immelman is well worth persisting with over the coming months at these sort of odds.

Comments (1)

1. Peter | 12 February 2008

   I am a fan of Immelman and was lucky enough to have backed him when he won the Nedbank. The problem with backing him now is that he had surgery at the end of last year to remove a tumor from under his ribcage ( I am amazed that this has not been mentioned in this article ) which means that he may need time to get back into full fitness etc and get his game back.