Trevor Immelman
Trevor John Immelman is a South African professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Sunshine Tour. He won his sole major championship at the 2008 Masters Tournament.
Early years
Immelman was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Born into a golfing family. His father, Johan, is the former commissioner of the Sunshine Tour in South Africa, while his older brother Mark is a broadcaster, teaching pro and collegiate golf coach. Trevor took up golf at the age of five. He attended Hottentots Holland High School. He won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 1998.Professional career
Immelman turned professional in 1999. In 2000 he played mainly on the second tier professional tour in Europe, the Challenge Tour, and finished tenth on the Order of Merit. He became a full member of the European Tour in 2001 and has made the top twenty of the Order of Merit three times. He has four wins on the European Tour, and in 2004 became the first man to successfully defend the South African Open title since Gary Player in the 1970s.In 2003 Immelman won the WGC-World Cup for South Africa in partnership with Rory Sabbatini. In 2005 he was a member of the losing International Team at the Presidents Cup. He has been playing with increasing frequency on the PGA Tour after receiving a 2-year PGA Tour exemption for 2006 and 2007 on account of this Presidents Cup appearance. In 2006 Immelman won his first PGA Tour event at the Cialis Western Open, a result that moved him into the top 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in 2002/03.
Immelman withdrew from the 2006 Open Championship to be present for the birth of his first child. He finished 2006 in the top 10 of the PGA Tour money list and was named Rookie of the Year. In September 2007, Trevor Immelman was picked by Gary Player to participate in the 7th Presidents Cup held at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, Canada. The International team lost 14.5 to the US team's 19.5.
On 13 December 2007, Immelman withdrew from the South African Airways Open due to severe discomfort around his ribcage area and a problem breathing. He went into surgery the following Tuesday, 18 December 2007, and doctors discovered a lesion approximately the size of a golf ball on his diaphragm.. It was diagnosed as a calcified fibrosis tumor. After more tests they discovered that it was benign. Nevertheless, treatment and recovery caused him to miss the first eight weeks of the 2008 PGA Tour season. However, Immelman came back to win the 2008 Masters Tournament. Despite scoring a double bogey on the 70th hole, the par 3 16th, Immelman finished with a score of 8 under par, beating favourite Tiger Woods by three strokes.
In June 2009, Immelman announced he would withdraw from the U.S. Open due to tendonitis in his left wrist and elbow, which plagued him for much of the 2009 and 2010 seasons. As the 2013 PGA Tour neared its conclusion, Immelman's winless streak extended to five years; he was forced to play in the Web.com Tour Finals after he failed to make the FedEx Cup playoffs and his five-year exemption for winning the Masters expired. Immelman won the Hotel Fitness Championship, the first of four Web.com Tour Finals tournaments, and finished the Finals in sixth place to regain his PGA Tour card for 2014.
Since 2017, Turner Sports has utilized Immelman as an analyst for coverage of the PGA Championship on TNT.
2018 saw a resurgence in Immelman's career. Focusing on the European Tour, he made the cut in 8 out of 13 events, with a best finish of T3 at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open. In the event he had a chance to qualify for The Open Championship via the Open Qualifying Series, but missed an eight foot birdie putt on the last and lost out to Jens Dantorp by world rankings. However with the finish, Immelman moved from 1,380th in the world to 420th, his highest ranking since 2014. Immelman finished 77th on the Race to Dubai standings, regaining full status for the 2019 season.
Personal life
Immelman married his childhood sweetheart, Carminita, on 6 December 2003. He has frequently participated in his mentor Gary Player's charity golf events around the world to help raise funds for children's causes. Immelman has a residence in Winter Park, Florida that he purchased in 2016 from former professional football player Jeff Faine.Professional wins (11)
PGA Tour wins (2)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
| 1 | 9 Jul 2006 | Cialis Western Open | −13 | 2 strokes |  Tiger Woods,  Mathew Goggin |
| 2 | 13 Apr 2008 | Masters Tournament | −8 | 3 strokes | Tiger Woods |
PGA Tour playoff record
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
| 1 | 2006 | Wachovia Championship | Jim Furyk | Lost to par on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2008 | Stanford St. Jude Championship | Robert Allenby, Justin Leonard | Leonard won with birdie on second extra hole |
European Tour wins (4)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
| 1 | 12 Jan 2003 | South African Airways Open1 | −14 | Playoff |  Tim Clark |
| 2 | 18 Jan 2004 | South African Airways Open1 | −12 | 3 strokes |  Alastair Forsyth,  Steve Webster |
| 3 | 23 May 2004 | Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe | −17 | 1 stroke |  Pádraig Harrington |
| 4 | 13 Apr 2008 | Masters Tournament | −8 | 3 strokes | Tiger Woods |
1Co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour
European Tour playoff record
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
| 1 | 2003 | South African Airways Open | Tim Clark | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2003 | Dunhill Championship | Mark Foster,  Anders Hansen, Paul Lawrie, Doug McGuigan, Bradford Vaughan | Foster won with eagle on second extra hole Hansen and McGuigan eliminated by birdie on first hole |
| 3 | 2003 | Volvo PGA Championship |  Ignacio Garrido | Lost to birdie on first extra hole |
Sunshine Tour wins (5)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
| 1 | 10 Dec 2000 | Vodacom Players Championship | −9 | 3 strokes | Ernie Els, Titch Moore |
| 2 | 12 Jan 2003 | South African Airways Open1 | −14 | Playoff | Tim Clark |
| 3 | 26 Jan 2003 | Dimension Data Pro-Am | −17 | 1 stroke | Andrew McLardy, Bruce Vaughan |
| 4 | 18 Jan 2004 | South African Airways Open1 | −12 | 3 strokes | Alastair Forsyth, Steve Webster |
| 5 | 2 Dec 2007 | Nedbank Golf Challenge | −16 | 1 stroke | Justin Rose |
1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour
Sunshine Tour playoff record
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
| 1 | 2003 | South African Airways Open | Tim Clark | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2003 | Dunhill Championship | Mark Foster, Anders Hansen, Paul Lawrie, Doug McGuigan, Bradford Vaughan | Foster won with eagle on second extra hole Hansen and McGuigan eliminated by birdie on first hole |
Web.com Tour wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
| 1 | 1 Sep 2013 | Hotel Fitness Championship | −20 | 1 stroke | Patrick Cantlay |
Challenge Tour wins (1)
Other wins (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runners-up |
| 1 | 16 Nov 2003 | WGC-World Cup | −13 | 4 strokes | − Paul Casey and Justin Rose |
Major championships
Wins (1)
Results timeline
CUT = missed the half-way cut"T" = tied
Summary
- Most consecutive cuts made – 6
- Longest streak of top-10s – 2
Results in The Players Championship
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Results in World Golf Championships
"T" indicates a tie for a place.QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
Team appearances
Amateur- Eisenhower Trophy : 1998
- World Cup : 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007
- Presidents Cup : 2005, 2007, 2022