Trevor John Immelman (born 16 December 1979) is a
South African golfer.
Immelman was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He
took up golf at the age of five. He won the U.S.
Amateur Public Links in 1998.
Immelman turned professional in 1999. 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 three 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 has been playing 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.
Trevor married his childhood sweetheart, Carmenita,
on December 6th, 2003. He withdrew from the 2006
Open Championship to be with her for the birth of
their first child. He finished 2006 in the top 10 of
the PGA Tour money list and was named Rookie of the
Year.
On December 13, 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 next day and doctors
discovered a lesion approximately the size of a golf
ball on his diaphragm. It was diagnosed as a
calcified fibrosis tumor. After more tests they
discovered that it was benign. Immelman will be out
four to eight weeks causing him to miss the
beginning of the 2008 PGA Tour season.
