An unflinching Trevor Immelman won the Masters on Sunday by toughing it out, by staring down all challengers, by laughing at bad breaks and by doing what his lifelong golf hero told him to do. He listened to a voice mail message left by his hero, his fellow South African Gary Player, on Saturday night, and it helped Immelman prepare for what he would see, feel and do Sunday in the crucible of the back nine at Augusta National. “You know, it gave me goose bumps,” Immelman, 28, said. “He told me that he believed in me and I need to believe in myself. And he told me I've got to keep my head a little quieter when I putt. He said I'm just peeking too soon. He told me to just go out there and be strong through adversity, because he said that adversity would come today, and I just had to deal with it.” He dealt with it. He shot 75 — the highest final round by a winner since Arnold Palmer in 1962 — and he beat back challenges from Tiger Woods, whose 72 moved him into second place, and Brandt Snedeker and Steve Flesch. The Grand Slam, a topic Woods brought up by writing on his website that winning all four majors in a year was “easily within reason,” will have to wait for another year for him. Woods never got close enough to plant any negative swing thoughts in Immelman's head. He began the day six strokes behind and finished three back, at five-under-par 283. “I learned my lesson there with the press,” Woods said with a smile. “I'm not going to say anything. It's just one of those things when you're out there playing, you couldn't care less. You're trying to win a golf tournament. You're trying to put yourself in position, which I did. I just didn't make the putts.” That is for certain. He lipped out a four-footer and bogeyed the fourth hole; he missed a four-footer for birdie at the 13th after nearly holing his approach from 100 yards; and he three-putted the 14th hole to kill whatever chance he might have had of getting Immelman's attention. He did make a 70-footer at the 11th hole for birdie, but that was the extent of his fireworks. For much of the afternoon, Snedeker, who began the day two shots back, was applying the pressure. A talented 27-year-old from Tennessee, Snedeker eagled the second hole with a long putt to pull even with Immelman, but he bogeyed the third hole to fall one shot back, the sixth to fall three back and the ninth to make the turn four strokes behind. Although Snedeker tried mightily to apply some pressure, Immelman seemed impervious to it. This was evident after his quick turnaround after a bogey at the 12th hole. Immelman had launched his 8-iron into the pine straw behind the hole, and he failed to get up and down for par. Snedeker made a 35-foot, right-to-left putt that cut Immelman's lead to three strokes. Game on. Not for long. After Snedeker deposited his second shot at No. 13 into the tributary of Rae's Creek, Immelman stuck a wedge from 85 yards within four feet and made birdie. After a wedge to eight feet, Snedeker's putt for par slid past. Two more bogeys in the next three holes ended his chance for a victory. “It was a tough day,” said Snedeker, who shot 77 and tied for third with Stewart Cink. “Trevor played fantastic. I obviously couldn't get anything going, couldn't make any putts when I needed to. I'm still a little emotional, as you can tell, but it's one of those things. You've got of kind of pick yourself up, realize what you did wrong and go fix it.” Immelman faced down two more near disasters as he headed for home. At the 16th, he hooked his tee shot into the water and made double bogey. His lead over Woods shrunk to three strokes with three holes to play. If he was going to collapse, it would be now. He had two more chances. His approach to the 17th found the front bunker. He calmly got up and down for par. His drive at the 18th found a divot. He calmly sent his 8-iron shot into the fat of the green. “It was so tough and I was just trying to be tough, to hang in there,” Immelman said before slipping into the green jacket awarded to Masters champions. “Last week I missed the cut in Houston and here I am sitting as the Masters champion. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard of.” – NYT __
