Goosen's hard work pays dividends

The Golden Goose

Retief Goosen's sudden prominence on the golfing scene, must have been a surprise to even his most ardent fans, given that his first win on the European tour did not take place until 1999 in the Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge having entered the tour in the nineties.

By the end of the 2001 season Goosen had accumulated three tournament wins, which included the US Open at Southern Hills, but he had become the first non-European since Greg Norman in 1982 to win the Volvo order of merit. Goosen, who has made his home near the European headquarters at Wentworth with his English wife Tracy, was born 33 years ago in Pietersburg, South Africa.

Like many South African sportsman Goosen played many sports before settling on golf at the age of 13, which had been introduced to him by his father.

The stellar improvement in Goosen's career can probably, in part, be attributable to his change in mindset, although he feels that the success he in now enjoying is the culmination of gradual improvement as he said: "My aim is to improve every round… and develop every I play and just develop my game…. I feel as though the mature I get, the better golf I will play."

Whilst there is definitely something to Goosen's observations which suggest he is now at ease with his game, it cannot be a co-incidence that Goosen started to enjoy tournament success after his marriage to Tracy and joining forces with Belgian sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout. The change in Goosen mental attitude obviously helped in the clinch, as he was able to forget the previous day's putt he had missed on the last, to win the US Open in a play-off. Goosen's star has continued to glow brightly in 2002.

He has already added two more victories two his impressive résumé (the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth and the Dimension Data Pro-Am AT Sun City) and in addition not content with breaking into the world's top ten list Goosen has been made a honorary life member of the European tour in recognition of his prodigious achievements in 2001. Goosen who finished the 2001 season by partnering his good friend Ernie Els to victory in the World Cup of Golf in Japan.

Goosen had the air of someone still in a dream as he said: "To win my first major, and now be No 1 in Europe is unbelievable. It's been a dream year and it's still got to sink in. This is my 10th season in Europe and it's hard to think I've been the best player this year."

This dream may just run and run.

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