My Scene With The Godfather

Jul 20 2008 By Euan Mclean

MASTERS champion Trevor Immelman will never forget the message of support left by his golfing godfather Gary Player on the eve of his charge to Augusta glory.

But it was the moment he sat next to THE Godfather on an American chat show that goes down as the strangest memory of his first Major victory.

Just 24 hours after 2007 champion Zach Johnson had helped Immelman into his Green Jacket the South African found himself in New York as a guest on the David Letterman Show.

Being on the same bill as Hollywood legend Al Pacino sums up the bizarre adventure his Masters win in April has taken him on - and it's only now the magnitude of his success is sinking in.

Trev, who fired a 73 yesterday and is out of contention for Open glory at 11 over, said: "It seems to be something that happens after a guy wins his first Major - the PGA Tour have a direct line to the studios.

"The call came straight away. They got in touch with my agent so we got on a flight to New York the next morning and suddenly I'm on TV with Al Pacino.

"The Letterman show was fun but that was just one example of how everything happened so quickly after Augusta. I really needed some time to figure it out."

Immelman has admitted his mind went "AWOL" as he struggled to get to grips with his new-found status.

And the fact it came so soon after he was lying on a hospital bed in a cancer scare only added to the shock.

When doctors removed a golf-ball sized tumour from his diaphragm in December the 28-year-old endured a nerve-wracking wait to discover his fate.

Fortunately he got the all-clear but when you consider the turbulent time he has been through it's little surprise his head has been spinning.

Immelman said: "I think it happens to anybody who reaches their lifelong dream. And when you do it as young as 28 you think: 'What do I do now?'

"It took a while for me to realise what I had achieved then truly appreciate it.

"I needed five or six weeks to let that sink in and get back to normal - I tend to think about things a little too much.

"The hospital experience was scary because none of us knew where we were going until we got the test results saying the tumour was benign.

"From there it was just eight weeks' recovery, letting the muscles tie in together and the skin heal.

"But if you had told me on December 18 I was going to win the Masters five months later I would have laughed at you.

"I was lying in a hospital bed so it's pretty crazy."

Immelman has a long way to go before matching the feats of pal Player who won nine Majors.

Such a target could be beyond him but Trevor is desperate to prove his Masters win was no fluke.

He said: "Since August a my golf has been a rollercoaster - which sort of fits in with my life in the last year.

"It has been an interesting time and I've learned a lot about myself.

"After winning the Masters I'm in a strange situation because it's kind of a double-edged sword.

"On the one hand I can sit back and say: 'At least I've won a Major - I proved to myself I can do it'.

"But then you really want to be able to show you're worthy of winning a Major and worthy of having your name up with the greats of the game.

"So it's an interesting scenario to bounce between the two."