October 11, 2007
HSBC World Matchplay Championships
September 29, 2007
President's Cup
September 27, 2007
President's Cup
September 27, 2007
President's Cup
September 26, 2007
President's Cup
Retief Goosen (born February 3, 1969) is a South
African professional golfer who has been in the top
ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for over 250
weeks since 2001. His main achievements have been
two U.S. Open wins (in 2001 and 2004), and heading
the European Tour Order of Merit (money list) in
2001 and 2002.
Goosen was born in Pietersburg (now Polokwane),
South Africa. He is the son of Theo Goosen, a local
real estate agent and amateur golfer. He 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
even admits that his father put pressure on him.
When Goosen was fifteen he was golfing with his
friend Henri Potgieter at Pietersburg Golf Club.
They were playing through a small dizzle when
lightning struck. Henri was knocked from his feet
and when he stood back up saw Retief lying on the
ground on his back. Henri 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 was unable to
put his shoes on for weeks afterwords. He recovered
enough to grab another set of clubs and take up the
game a few weeks later. Goosen's doesn't remember
the events that happened, but his father took his
son's survival as a sign from God as good things to
come.
