Retief Goosen - Iskandar Johor Open Winner!

It is Retief Goosen reign again in the tough field of Royal Johor Country Club. His victory marks the end of his 29-month drought that probably helped bring back his confidence in his game.

I went and watch him played starting from hole 12th in the final day. And I realise lots of important elements that I'll discussed in the later game. This is the second time i see him played and probably he showed to me why he is the world class players. First of all, Retief is very cool and easy type of players like our Big Easy, Ernie Els. He played his shots without rushing and taking each and every shot slow and steadily. His swing is smooth, so smooth that you hardly see any disturbances. In the sense, seeing how he swing makes you feel, ' YEAH THAT'S THE WAY TO SING' rather than 'WHY HIS SWING IS SO DISTURBING'. His tempo and rhymtn in his game is very great that you feel that whatever he do is good. Probably that's what you will see in a PGA Tour event too. And Retief Goosen is powerful, delivering all his shots in full that shows how his accuracy is obtained. That's the beauty of it.

Perhaps this is one good advise for people like me, who didn't play for a long time. From what my father said too, players will get better and will have their slump time too. While you are having your bad times, doesn't means everything goes wrong. BUT it is normal for humans to start changing things in and out, to fine tune our game. However, that may not be the case, as the more we try to change, the worse it may get. So sometimes, after a long break or a bad season for your game, we have to play some easy course or some easy events, to boost back our confident in this game.

I was back in Orna Golf and Country Club after nearly 2 years I did not step into that turf. I played the first line and resulting in a very bad shot. I hit far but wild shots. Hitting back pitch, in fact, topping the ball at my best margin when I was in my prime. I hit bad putts, although I make the green in regulations. Things ain't just working.
But on the second line, it was different. We played the easier golf course, and my confident slowly grew back. I start from parring the first hole, continued with the second. On the third hole par 5 (which is hole 21st in Orna), I played a birdie, after hitting a great drive, great second shot with my 3 irons to reach the apron. I went on parring the next two holes without much problems. After that, I still hit a good drive but land on water. Look at this bounce back stats, I drop a shot and still hit a good approach leaving a 15 footer for par. I miss just by a little to the hole. I felt I was strong to be able to recover from such obstacles. It is great to get a bogey. the next hole was good but I make a bad chip. Still the game hasn't gone over. On the last second hole, it is a very very long par 5. I hit a good drive, but I'm still left with a 276 metres to the green, with bunkers 40 metres in front of the green. THe confident level pulled me to hit the second shot with my DRIVER on the fairway. I hit a GREAT shot, one of the best in fact (in my golf ever), and give myself another 2nd shot on the apron. I tried so many times, to play that hole in two and couldn't even get that close to what I just did. I hit a good chip, but miss that 4 footer for birdie. Still it ain't that bad though. I went on hitting a very very very good 278 metres drive on the last hole, not the best pin placement and misses another 18 footer birdie chance. I shot a remarkable 37, not a very distinct score, but it is great. After being absent for so long. This is the reason why we need to boost that confident

Just like Goosen, he is having such pressures in his game in the PGA Tour and all. So winning in Asian Tour will probably enhance his skills and he may be winning in a few tournaments back in the States again. WHY NOT!! So work on your mentality, work on your confident