Trevor Immelman

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Trevor Immelman
Personal information
Full nameTrevor John Immelman
Born (1979-12-16) 16 December 1979 (age 45)
Cape Town, South Africa
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Sporting nationality South Africa
ResidenceWinter Park, Florida, U.S.
Spouse
Carminita
​
(m. 2003)​
Children2
Career
Turned professional1999
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Sunshine Tour
Professional wins11
Highest ranking12 (17 September 2006)[1]
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour2
European Tour4
Sunshine Tour5
Korn Ferry Tour1
Challenge Tour1
Other1
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters TournamentWon: 2008
PGA ChampionshipT6: 2007
U.S. OpenT21: 2006
The Open ChampionshipT15: 2005
Achievements and awards
Sunshine Tour
Rookie of the Year		2000–01
Sunshine Tour
Order of Merit winner		2002–03
PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year		2006

Trevor John Immelman (born 16 December 1979) is a South African retired professional golfer and television commentator who has played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Sunshine Tour. He won his sole major championship at the 2008 Masters Tournament.

Early life and amateur career

Immelman was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He was 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. He also has an older sister by the name of Michelle Greeff. Trevor took up golf at the age of five. He attended Hottentots Holland High School.

Immelman had much success as amateur. He won the South African Amateur Championship in 1997. In 1998, he finished runner-up at the New Zealand Amateur.[2] He also won the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 1998.

Professional career

In 1999, Immelman turned professional. 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 played 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.[3]

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. (Immelman remarked in an interview on the obvious irony of the size of the lesion).[4] 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[5] 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,[6] 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.

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 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.

In September 2022, Immelman captained the International team in the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. The U.S. team won 17.5–12.5.[7]

Broadcasting career

In 2017, 2018 and 2019, Turner Sports utilized Immelman as an analyst for coverage of the PGA Championship on TNT.

In December 2019, Immelman joined the PGA Tour on CBS commentating team.[8] After Nick Faldo retired from CBS in 2022, Immelman was named the new lead golf analyst for 2023.

OWGR Chairman

Immelman was announced as the chairman of the Official World Golf Ranking starting April 2025.[9]

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.[10]

Amateur wins

Professional wins (11)

PGA Tour wins (2)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 9 Jul 2006 Cialis Western Open −13 (69-66-69-67=271) 2 strokes United States Tiger Woods, Australia Mathew Goggin
2 13 Apr 2008 Masters Tournament −8 (68-68-69-75=280) 3 strokes United States Tiger Woods

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2006 Wachovia Championship United States Jim Furyk Lost to par on first extra hole
2 2008 Stanford St. Jude Championship Australia Robert Allenby, United States Justin Leonard Leonard won with birdie on second extra hole

European Tour wins (4)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other European Tour (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 12 Jan 2003 South African Airways Open1 −14 (70-71-66-67=274) Playoff South Africa Tim Clark
2 18 Jan 2004 South African Airways Open1 (2) −12 (71-69-69-67=276) 3 strokes Scotland Alastair Forsyth, England Steve Webster
3 23 May 2004 Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe −17 (65-72-69-65=271) 1 stroke Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
4 13 Apr 2008 Masters Tournament −8 (68-68-69-75=280) 3 strokes United States Tiger Woods

1Co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2003 South African Airways Open South Africa Tim Clark Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2003 Dunhill Championship England Mark Foster, Denmark Anders Hansen,
Scotland Paul Lawrie, Scotland Doug McGuigan,
South Africa Bradford Vaughan 		Foster won with eagle on second extra hole
Hansen and McGuigan eliminated by birdie on first hole
3 2003 Volvo PGA Championship Spain Ignacio Garrido Lost to birdie on first extra hole

Sunshine Tour wins (5)

Legend
Flagship events (2)
Other Sunshine Tour (3)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 10 Dec 2000 Vodacom Players Championship −9 (67-75-68-69=279) 3 strokes South Africa Ernie Els, South Africa Titch Moore
2 12 Jan 2003 South African Airways Open1 −14 (70-71-66-67=274) Playoff South Africa Tim Clark
3 26 Jan 2003 Dimension Data Pro-Am −17 (67-68-65-71=271) 1 stroke South Africa Andrew McLardy, United States Bruce Vaughan
4 18 Jan 2004 South African Airways Open1 (2) −12 (71-69-69-67=276) 3 strokes Scotland Alastair Forsyth, England Steve Webster
5 2 Dec 2007 Nedbank Golf Challenge −16 (67-66-67-72=272) 1 stroke England Justin Rose

1Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Sunshine Tour playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2003 South African Airways Open South Africa Tim Clark Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2003 Dunhill Championship England Mark Foster, Denmark Anders Hansen,
Scotland Paul Lawrie, Scotland Doug McGuigan,
South Africa Bradford Vaughan 		Foster won with eagle on second extra hole
Hansen and McGuigan eliminated by birdie on first hole

Web.com Tour wins (1)

Legend
Finals events (1)
Other Web.com Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 1 Sep 2013 Hotel Fitness Championship −20 (67-66-69-66=268) 1 stroke United States Patrick Cantlay

Challenge Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 12 Mar 2000 Tusker Kenya Open −14 (67-69-67-67=270) 4 strokes Sweden Henrik Stenson

Other wins (1)

Legend
World Golf Championships (1)
Other wins (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runners-up
1 16 Nov 2003 WGC-World Cup
(with South Africa Rory Sabbatini) 		−13 (70-69-63-73=275) 4 strokes  England − Paul Casey and Justin Rose

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
2008 Masters Tournament 2 shot lead −8 (68-68-69-75=280) 3 strokes United States Tiger Woods

Results timeline

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament 56 CUT T5 CUT T55 1 T20
U.S. Open CUT T55 T21 CUT T65
The Open Championship T43 T53 T42 T15 T60 T19
PGA Championship T48 T37 T17 T34 T6 CUT
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament T14 T15 60 T50 CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open CUT CUT CUT
The Open Championship T23 T38 CUT
PGA Championship CUT T12 T27
Tournament 2019
Masters Tournament T51
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 1 0 0 2 2 5 17 10
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 3 9 7
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 3
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 8
Totals 1 0 0 2 3 12 43 28
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2004 U.S. Open – 2005 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (2007 PGA – 2008 Masters)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
The Players Championship CUT WD CUT CUT CUT T33 T56
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Match Play R64 R32 R64 3 R32 R64
Championship T27 T44 T23 T9 T35 T40 T70
Invitational T9 T32 T19 T13 T36 T36 T60
Champions
  Top 10
  Did not play

"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

Professional

See also

References

  1. ^ "Week 37 2006 Ending 17 Sep 2006" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  2. ^ "New Zealand Amateur Championships". The Age. 27 April 1998.
  3. ^ "The Presidents Cup – Past Results". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  4. ^ "Immelman undergoes surgery to remove growth on his diaphragm". PGA Tour. 18 December 2007. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007.
  5. ^ Dorman, Larry (14 April 2008). "Immelman Survives Pressure to Win Masters". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  6. ^ "Immelman withdraws from U.S. Open due to injury". PGA Tour. 14 June 2009.
  7. ^ Beall, Joel (25 September 2022). "Presidents Cup 2022: Our grades for all 24 players, from an A+ for Spieth to an F for Scheffler". Golf Digest. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  8. ^ "ViacomCBS Press Express | GOLF ON CBS".
  9. ^ Schlabach, Mark (7 January 2025). "Trevor Immelman to be next Official World Golf Ranking chair". ESPN.
  10. ^ Fluker, Anjali (7 September 2016). "Former NFL player sells Winter Park luxury home for $4.55M". Orlando Business Journal. Retrieved 19 October 2018.