George, South Africa

Goosen’s Hopes for the 2009 Gary Player Invitational

Retief Goosen (pictured left) is hoping that being paired with Grand Slam champion Gary Player (pictured below) in this weekend’s Gary Player Invitational presented by Coca-Cola at Fancourt will help him end the putting woes which have stopped him from recording a string of victories this year.

The double US Open champion makes his seventh appearance in this charity tournament, which will be played over 36 holes of The Links this weekend.

But this is the first time he has been teamed with Player, and he’s hoping to catch some of the Black Knight’s infectious enthusiasm, particularly on the greens.
“Gary is a great guy to be around. He’s the most positive person you can be around and you can learn a lot from him,” said Goosen.

Having emerged from a period of various swing changes, Goosen is striking the ball better than ever but his putting has let him down in 2009.

He did claim one victory and four top-tens on the PGA Tour, a victory on the Sunshine Tour, and displayed several flashes of brilliance on the European Tour, including fifth in the Open Championship at Turnberry and becoming the first player in Europe to reach 20 under par through 54 holes in the Portugal Masters. But he knows it could have been better.

“I’ve played a lot of tournaments over the past year because I felt that playing more rather than just practising would improve my game,” said Goosen.

“And I’ve played well this year. I’m actually hitting the ball as good as I’ve ever hit it. The problem is I’m not putting as well as I know I can putt. I know that if I putted well these last couple of months I could’ve won pretty much every tournament I entered, with the way I was hitting the ball.”

A return to The Links may help his putting stroke as it brings back fond memories of winning the 2005 South African Open here in a final round battle with Ernie Els.

“Winning the South African Open here was one of my best wins worldwide. There’s no doubt that this is a great golf course. But I’ll admit, when I played The Links the first time, I didn’t like it that much.


“Having said that, when I played the Old Course at St Andrews the first time I didn’t like that too much either. So it grows on you.”

Goosen is a past champion in this event, winning the betterball competition with senior professional Bobby Lincoln in 2006 and the Fourball Alliance team competition with senior professional Costantino Rocca, business man Alan Pearson and Spanish actress Inés Sastre last year.

Reigning Masters champion Angel Cabrera is also in the field and has been paired with senior professional Tony Johnstone, BBC sports presenter Sarah Stirk and the founder of SAP and the owner of Fancourt, Dr Hasso Plattner.

But away from the hard edge of tournament golf, there is also an exciting celebrity element.

Former England coach Sir Clive Woodward joins cricketing great Barry Richards, tennis ace Kevin Curren and footballer Shaun Bartlett as the sports stars taking part.

“This week is all about charity and doing our bit to support that,” said Goosen.




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