Sat Apr 12 11:01:38 2008

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Immelman's lead a tenuous one at Augusta

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Augusta, GA (Sports Network) - Augusta -- the city, not the course -- has been named the fourth most challenging place to live with spring allergies in the United States by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

A sneeze could knock Trevor Immelman out of the Masters lead.

While there were only two major champions within five shots of Immelman overnight -- Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir, both past Masters winners -- there were a host of other proven winners right on his tail as the third round was set to get underway on Saturday.

Between them, the next nine players on the leaderboard -- all those within five shots of the lead -- owned 70 wins on the PGA and European Tours, with 34 of them belonging to the two-time Masters champion Mickelson alone.

Immelman stood at eight-under 136 for a one-shot lead on Brandt Snedeker, with Mickelson, Ian Poulter and Steve Flesch three off the pace.

Poulter and Paul Casey, who was four back, are proven European Tour winners with 15 victories between them. Weir and Stewart Cink, sitting five off the lead, own 12 combined PGA Tour titles.

Mickelson has won two of the last four Masters.

With those players among the golfers on Immelman's heels, the 28-year-old South African was feeling the pressure. Not the pressure of winning the Masters, but the pressure of simply winning.

"You definitely feel pressure, but you know, I feel pressure playing for a hundred bucks against a mate. So that's the beauty of the game," said Immelman.

"The thing is, you've just got to go out there and play as well as you can play. And the other thing you've also got to realize is that the best players in the world get nervous and they feel pressure. I guess it's just who can disguise it the best and who can handle it the best."

Winning the season's first major championship always means negotiating a gauntlet of the world's top players, squeezing through one of the best fields in golf and taming one of its toughest tests of mettle.

Which is why there is hardly ever a surprising winner at Augusta, like there was last year when Zach Johnson wedged his way to a two-shot victory over Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini -- all better-established players.

Immelman, too, has an established history. It's just not a long one.

He recorded a hole-in-one at the 2005 Masters and tied for fifth place -- still his best finish at a major -- then was named the 2006 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, based on his seventh-place finish on the money list and a win at the Western Open that year.

That victory -- Immelman's only PGA Tour title, though he owns three on the European Tour -- might be better remembered as the last time Woods lost before going on a lengthy PGA Tour winning streak.

Of course, it's been Immelman's recent personal history that has garnered headlines.

Last December, Immelman withdrew from a European Tour event citing discomfort around his ribcage area and trouble breathing. Less than a week later, he had a benign tumor approximately the size of a golf ball removed from his diaphragm.

The whole ordeal put things into perspective for Immelman, though it didn't take very long for him to start thinking about golf again.

"The first day (home after surgery) I came out and hit a few chips and putts and came home and said to my wife, 'I don't know what's going on,' because I was skulling them and duffing them," said Immelman.

"Four or five days later I started making a few half-swings. The orders were just to take it day for day and if I feel some pain, stop. So I just gradually went on."

And now this, heading into the weekend at Augusta with the lead.

"You know, everything about this tournament and this venue, it's what dreams are made of," said Immelman. "Every single player that's here has dreamt of playing in this tournament."

And winning it, of course.