BBC SPORT | US OPEN | Golden Goosen is ready for more



By Matt Slater BBC Sport Online golf editor

What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago Retief Goosen pushed a three-foot putt for victory at the 2001 US Open wide of the hole.

While he would be returning to Southern Hills the following day for an 18-hole play-off against Mark Brooks, few of us gave Goosen much chance of redeeming himself after such a galling miss.

Well, we were wrong.

Retief Goosen

1969: Born in Pietersburg, South Africa

1980: Takes up golf aged 11

1990: Turns pro after glittering amateur career

1992: Wins qualifying school to join European Tour

1996: Wins 1st Euro Tour event, Northumberland Challenge

2001: Wins US Open and 2 Euro tour events to claim European Order of Merit

2002: Wins Johnnie Walker and BellSouth Classics, 2nd at Masters

Not only did Goosen recover his composure sufficiently to defeat Brooks and claim his first major, the South African would begin a run of success that would seal his place among golf's elite.

Now, one year later, the 33-year-old from Pietersburg goes to Bethpage State Park to defend his US Open title as the world's fourth best golfer.

From being a European Tour also-ran for most of the 1990s, Goosen's name is now a regular feature on any leaderboard.

The real surprise, perhaps, is that it has taken this long for Goosen to make his mark.

After being introduced to golf at the age of 11 by his father, Goosen enjoyed a successful amateur career and was considered to be as good as prospect as his South African contemporary Ernie Els.

But his progress was checked when he was struck by lightning whilst playing in South Africa.

After recovering his health, Goosen moved to England to join the European Tour in 1992 and looked ready to convert his ability into regular victories.

Goosen with the 2001 US, Scottish and Madrid Open trophies
Goosen and the 2001 US, Scottish and Madrid Opens
But four fallow years passed before he picked up his first tour win, the Northumberland Challenge.

This proved to be something of a false dawn, as he followed this with just one more Tour win - the French Open - over two years. Not a great return for a player of his quality.

An arm broken whilst skiing in Switzerland before the start of the 1999 season seemed to sum up Goosen's golf career - short on luck, long on frustration.

But around this time Goosen formed a partnership with a Belgian sports psychologist, Jos Vanstiphout, which would turn his fortunes around.

A far more resilient mental approach brought immediate rewards - in 1999 he won the French Open for a second time, and in 2000 he bagged his third win on French soil, the Lancome Trophy.

Retief repeat?

But his real coming-out party came in 2001.

The US Open win was followed by triumphs at the Scottish and Madrid Opens - a sequence of results that cemented the European Order of Merit - and a fine showing at the EMC World Cup, where he teamed up with Els to defeat the American duo of Tiger Woods and David Duval.

And his form so far this season has proved that Goosen's success last year was no flash in the pan.

Victories in the Johnnie Walker and BellSouth Classics were followed by a second place at the Masters.

At 33, Goosen is positively ancient compared to most of the pretenders lining up to be a thorn in Woods' side, but it is clear that he could now be ready to pose a far more consistent challenge to the world number one than his more heralded compatriot, Els, could ever manage.

A Retief repeat would surprise nobody this year.


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