By Matt Slater Golf editor

"Top Twos", "Fab Fours", "Dirty Dozens"....you want alliterative groupings, golf's got 'em.

Coming into 2005's first major, the Masters in April, all the talk was of the "Fab Four" - Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods.

Leaving Augusta all the talk was of how could we have forgotten about Retief Goosen.

FAMOUS FIVE 2004 FORM 1 Goosen 2= Els 2= Mickelson 4= Singh 4= Woods Based on head-to-head results in the five events all of the top five played in during 2004

So, with the season's second major, the US Open, teeing off at Pinehurst on Thursday, the number de jour is five.

It is fitting that Goosen's ascent to premier league status is acknowledged in the run-up to a US Open, because it was at Southern Hills in 2001 that the South African won his first major title.

That victory was all the more significant as it came in a play-off on Monday after seemingly blowing his chances by three-putting the last on Sunday. Here was a man with guts to match his game.

He would win twice more on the European Tour that season, a haul that would see him take the Order of Merit - the first non-European to do so since Greg Norman in 1982.

The 36-year-old from Pietersburg repeated the trick in 2002, a run of form that saw him reach number four in the world rankings.

The next 18 months saw Goosen play steady, sometimes spectacular, golf - he won a couple of times, and maintained a top-10 ranking - but he never looked like a potential number one.

That all changed at Shinnecock Hills last year. While all about him - Els and Mickelson in particular - were losing their heads, the "Goose" held his nerve to win a second US Open.

I played rubbish the last time I was there, but this time I'm hoping to play a lot better Goosen on Pinehurst Goosen prepares for defence

His return to the upper canopy of the golfing jungle was confirmed in November when he carried off the end-of-season Tour Championship. That victory bumped him back up to fourth in the world and the top of the tree was in sight again.

In fact, the "Famous Five" played only five times together in 2004 - the four majors and the Tour Championship. A form table based on those events makes interesting reading: the softly-spoken Springbok with a Swiss-watch swing - which is easier to write than say - comes out on top.

Goosen's 2005 has, as so often before, been unflashily lucrative.

Unlike the rest of the top table, he hasn't won anything. But there have been third-place finishes at the Match Play and the Masters.

In four starts on the European Tour this season, Goosen has finished third, tied for third, second and tied for 11th. A level of consistency that has taken him to the top of the Order of Merit race again.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about his golf is that it is so often overlooked.

A GOOSE'S PROGRESS 1969: Born in Pietersburg, South Africa 1980: Takes up golf aged 11 1990: Turns pro after much amateur success 1992: Wins qualifying school to join European Tour 1996: First tour win, Northumberland Challenge 2001: Wins US Open and two Euro events to claim Order of Merit 2002: Three wins worldwide, second at Masters, retains Order of Merit 2004: Three wins worldwide, including second US Open

Part of the reason for this is that he came to the winners' party relatively late, another is his natural reticence and another is that he has had to share the stage with Els, another sweet-natured South African with a sublime swing.

And Goosen's progress has been far from smooth. His talent was almost nipped in the bud when he was struck by lightning while out on the course as an amateur.

Another setback came when, having won a couple of events in six years in Europe, he broke his arm whilst skiing in 1999.

But it was around that time that he met his mentor, Belgian sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout.

At times it seems it would be easier to list which leading pros have not consulted Vanstiphout, but few have seen such immediate results.

Since then acts of God and holiday mishaps have been conspicuous by their absence - golfing success has become the norm.

When asked about his prospects ahead of this year's US Open at Pinehurst, the defending champion said: "I know the course fairly well. I'm looking forward to going back there.

"I played rubbish the last time I was there, but this time I'm hoping to play a lot better."

That's almost verbal diarrhoea by Goosen's standards. But major titles are not won in the press room a week before the start of the tournament.