Retief Goosen (born 3 February 1969) is a South African professional golfer. He plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He has won two U.S. Opens, in 2001 and 2004, headed the European Tour Order of Merit in 2001 and 2002, and was in the top ten of the world rankings for over 250 weeks between 2001 and 2007. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, class of 2019.
Early life In 1969, Goosen was born in Pietersburg (now Polokwane), South Africa. He is the son of Theo Goosen, a local real estate agent, and amateur golfer who introduced the game of golf to Retief at an early age. Theo took a strict approach to parenting. "Look, I never made life easy for my kids," said Theo. "We never spoiled them. We never pleasurized them." Goosen admits that his father put pressure on him.Goosen isn't the chattiest Tour player. Most of the time he lets his game do the talking Jeff Smith, thesandtrap.com
In 1987, Goosen was struck by lightning. He was golfing with his friend, Henri Potgieter at Pietersburg Golf Club. They were playing through a small drizzle when lightning struck Goosen. Potgieter was knocked from his feet and when he stood back up saw Retief lying on the ground on his back. Potgieter retold the story to Golf World, "I wanted to know his reaction. What I did see was his golf clubs and his golf bag. Then I saw him lying on his back. His tongue was down his throat and his eyes were backward, and he was breathing weird. He had no clothes on; they'd been burned from his body. I remember picking up his spectacles. I didn't know what to do. It looked like he was dead. I was screaming for help. Fortunately, there were guys teeing off on the 12th hole. They came running toward us. From then on, I can't remember much. They picked him up and put him in a car." Goosen's shoes had disintegrated from his feet, his underwear and watch band had melted to his body. He retains a scar on his wrist from the incident. He was unable to put his shoes on for weeks afterwards. He recovered enough to grab another set of clubs and take up the game a few weeks later. Goosen doesn't remember the events that happened, but his father took his son's survival as a sign from God of good things to come.
Amateur career In 1990, Goosen won the South African Amateur Championship, the leading amateur competition in his country.
Professional career
Southern Africa Tour In 1990, Goosen turned professional. During the 1991–92 Southern Africa Tour, he won one tournament and finished fifth on the Order of Merit.
European Tour Goosen was medalist at the European Tour's Qualifying School in 1992, and had success on the Tour between 1992 and 2000, but it was not until 2001 that he made his name in America with a U.S. Open win on Southern Hills Country Club golf course. He nearly lost his chance at victory after three putting from 12 feet, missing a two foot putt on the final green, but managed to recover to make a playoff with the 1996 PGA Championship winner Mark Brooks. Goosen dominated the next day's 18-hole playoff, winning by two strokes. Later that summer, he completed his second wire-to-wire victory of the year at The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. He finished 2001 with three wins, 11 top-tens and the European Tour Order of Merit and followed it up with another in 2002. He also became the first non-European to win the Order of Merit. After his third win of the 2001 season, he rose to a career-high 11th in the world rankings. In 2002, he won on both the PGA Tour and European Tour for the second straight year, a feat that would be repeated for three more years. He won a second U.S. Open in 2004, where he had 11 one-putts in the final round at a tough test at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. He then rose to his career high world ranking position of 3rd. He won on the PGA Tour each year from 2001 to 2005 with six wins, and he added a seventh win in March 2009 at the Transitions Championship.
After winning medalist at the European Tour's Q-School in 1992, Goosen played 3 seasons before winning his first event in 1996 at the Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge. He won the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1997 and 1998 with Ernie Els and David Frost. Goosen played in the 2000 Presidents Cup where the U.S. team won, but Goosen scored 2 points in total in his 1st appearance in the event. Goosen won four times on the European Tour between 1996 and 2000, before his breakthrough year in the United States with his 2001 U.S. Open win. Two weeks after the U.S. Open win of 2001, Goosen won on the European Tour at The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. This win secured Goosen the Player of the Month for June 2001 on the European Tour. He added another win late in the year and won the European Tour Order of Merit and the Player of the Year on the European Tour.
PGA Tour Goosen was in contention in the U.S. Open at Southern Hills Country Club in 2001 all week, and battled Mark Brooks and Stewart Cink during the final round. After Brooks had posted 4 under par, and Goosen was at 5 under coming up 18, Cink had a chance to win until he three-putted the 72nd hole, leaving the battle for the trophy a two-man race between Brooks and Goosen. After Goosen hit his approach to 12 feet on 18, he had 2 putts to win and victory seemed imminent. Goosen put his first putt past the hole and was left with 22 inches for victory, but pushed the second putt across the right edge of the cup and was forced to make a putt longer than the one previous to force a playoff with Brooks.
Goosen won the Monday 18-hole playoff by 2 strokes with an even-par 70 and Brooks shooting a 2-over-par 72. It was Goosen's first victory on U.S. soil. He finished 47th on the PGA Tour money list with over $1,047,000 in a restricted season shared between the PGA and European Tours.
Goosen won the European Tour Order of Merit for a second straight year for a season that included a win at the Johnnie Walker Classic by a margin of 8 strokes. He had eight other top-10s on the season, two runner-up finishes, including a 2nd place to Tiger Woods at The Masters. Goosen won the money title in the end by a slim margin over Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke. Goosen also had his second win in the U.S. at the BellSouth Classic in April on the PGA Tour.
In 2003, Goosen won his second Trophee Lancome title in its final playing. It was his lone win on the European Tour in 2003, though he had five other top-10s on the season. 2003 was the first season where he played most of his events in the United States. He picked up his 3rd tour win at the Chrysler Championship in October. His 2003 season included 17 of 19 cuts made, 9 top-10s, a win and over $3,100,000 in earnings. Goosen played in the Presidents Cup for the International team where he scored 3 points for the week that ended with a tie because Tiger Woods and Ernie Els were involved in a playoff that was not over at sundown, so captains Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus decided that the 2003 matches would be a draw.
Goosen's second major title came at the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. The USGA had prepared extremely tough conditions which were later argued by players as "unfair." The final-round scoring average of 78.7 was the second-highest since World War II, with only Goosen and Phil Mickelson finishing under par. Goosen Takes 104th U.S. Open By Two Strokes He eventually won by two strokes over Mickelson as both men shot 1-over-par rounds of 71. Goosen had 11 one-putt greens on Sunday and 31 one-putts for the championship. He only needed 24 putts on the day in what is remembered as one of the most clutch putting performances in U.S. Open history. 2004 was the start of the "Big Five Era" which is used in describing the era in golf where Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, and Phil Mickelson dominated the game of golf. The five switched up and down the top five positions in the Official World Golf Ranking; most notably Singh's derailing of Woods as the number one golfer in the world. The five stayed, for the most part in the top five spots from 2004 till the start of 2007. Nine majors were won between them many fighting against each other head to head.
Goosen won the Tour Championship in November 2004, coming from four strokes behind on the final round with a 6-under-par 64 to win by four strokes over Tiger Woods. It was his second Tour win on the season and it secured him a career high 6th-place finish on the 2004 money list.
In 2005 Goosen was in pursuit of his third U.S. Open and his second in a row, leading by three strokes after three rounds of golf at the Pinehurst No. 2 course. However, he disappeared in the final round with a score of 81 and he ended up finishing in 11th place. In an interview after his round Goosen said "I messed up badly. I obviously threw this one away."Goosen Takes His Loss In Stride , Ken Klavon, usopen.com
Even though Goosen finished T-11 in the U.S. Open in 2005, it was his worst finish in a major in 2005, he won The International by one point over Brandt Jobe for his 6th career win. His 2005 season included 8 top 10s, and over $3.4 million in earnings. Goosen played in his 3rd Presidents Cup in 2005, at an event where he defeated Tiger Woods in Sunday's singles matches and finished with 4 points. The final score was 18½–15½ for the United States.
Goosen has been a consistent player: he has won internationally every year since 1995, and also won a PGA Tour event every year from 2001 to 2005. Additionally, he has spent a long period of time in the top 5 of the Official World Golf Ranking, and in 2006 reached a career-best third place after a runner-up finish at The Players Championship to Stephen Ames and 5 other top 10s on the season. He also won on the European Tour at the South African Airways Open and at the Volkswagen Masters-China on the Asian Tour. He also won his match during the challenge season at the People vs. The ProsPeople vs. The Pros history event. But from early 2007 to late 2008 he had had a dip in performance.
2007 was an average season for Goosen's standards; a victory at the Qatar Masters in January – when he finished birdie-eagle for the win, looked to be a sign of things to come along with being the European Tour player of the month in January. Goosen posed a threat on the final day at The Masters. He held the lead till a bogey on the par-three twelve, Goosen failed to rebound parring each of his six remaining holes. He finished tied for second, two behind Zach Johnson. However, after the Masters Goosen's best finish throughout the rest of the year was a tie for 15th at the BMW Asian Open, and he ended 2007 having slumped down to 26th in the world rankings.
Goosen's statistics on the PGA Tour at this time were surprisingly low. He was outside the top 100 in ball striking, greens in regulation, driving accuracy, distance, and putting. But this was due mainly, Goosen said, to the swing changes he had made, his hiring a swing coach for the first time in his career, and how he had lost all confidence in his game.
He was again a part of the International team at the 2007 Presidents Cup at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, just outside Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was his fourth appearance in the event. He finished the week with 2 points, including a singles win of 2&1 over Jim Furyk on Sunday.
At the start of 2008, Goosen withdrew from the Qatar Masters as defending champion due to problems with his vision after undergoing corrective laser surgery ten days before the tournament began. He was forced to return to his home in London, England, for further treatment. In March, he showed a form that had left him for almost a year and resulted in a tie for second at the WGC-CA Championship. He putted exceptionally well thanks to his old Yes! putter he won both his U.S. Open titles with and named "Tracy" after his wife.