Retief Goosen

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**Retief Goosen**
Personal Information

Birth:	3 February 1969, Pietersburg, South Africa
Height:	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Nationality:	South Africa
Residence:	Pietersburg, South Africa; Ascot, Berkshire, England; Orlando, Florida, USA
Career
College:	n/a
Turned Professional:	1990
Current Tour:	European Tour (joined 1993); PGA Tour (joined 2001)
Professional wins:	30 (PGA Tour 6; European Tour 14 (including 2 co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour); others 12)
Majors:	U.S. Open (2001, 2004)
Awards:	European Tour Order of Merit winner 2001, 2002

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 several years.

1 Background and career summary
2 Major Championships
- 2.1 Wins (2)
- 2.2 Results timeline
3 PGA Tour wins (6)
4 European Tour wins (14)
5 Other wins (12)
6 Team appearances
7 See also
8 External links

Goosen was born in Pietersburg (now Polokwane), South Africa. His amateur career was briefly interrupted when he was struck by lightning at the age of 16. He turned professional in 1990, following a win in the South African Amateur Championship of the same year. His main achievements since 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.

Since 1995, Goosen has been one of the most consistent players in the world: 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 Rankings, and in 2006 reached a career-best third place.

Goosen is known for his extremely calm demeanor, a trait that has earned him the nickname "The Iceman" on the PGA Tour. He is also affectionally called "The Goose". He further enhanced his reputation as a steely competitor at the 2004 U.S. Open, where he mastered Shinnecock Hills' extremely fast (and arguably unfair) greens, draining clutch putt after clutch putt.

Goosen has also been the inspiration behind the creation of the word "goosenesque," which describes either a missed short putt of significant consequence, or a putt struck that rolls exceptionally pure.^{[citation needed]}

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runners Up
2001	U.S. Open	Tied for lead	-4 (66-70-69-71=276)	Playoff	Mark Brooks
2004	U.S. Open (2)	2 stroke lead	-4 (70-66-69-71=276)	2 strokes	Phil Mickelson

Tournament	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
The Masters	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT	DNP	DNP	76	T10	CUT	T10
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T61	CUT	CUT

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
The Masters	T40	CUT	2	T13	T13	T3	T3
U.S. Open	T12	1	CUT	T42	1	T11	CUT
The Open Championship	T41	T13	T8	T10	T7	T5	T14
PGA Championship	CUT	T37	T23	CUT	DNP	T6	T34

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

2001 (1) U.S. Open
2002 (1) BellSouth Classic
2003 (1) Chrysler Championship
2004 (2) U.S. Open, The Tour Championship
2005 (1) The INTERNATIONAL

Major championships are shown in bold.

1996 (1) Slaley Hall Northumberland Challenge
1997 (1) Peugeot Open de France
1999 (1) Novotel Perrier Open de France
2000 (1) Trophée Lancôme
2001 (3) U.S. Open, The Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, Telefonica Open de Madrid
2002 (1) Johnnie Walker Classic
2003 (1) Trophée Lancôme
2004 (2) U.S. Open, Smurfit European Open
2005 (1) Linde German Masters
2006 (1) South African Open (played in December 2005)
2007 (1) Qatar Masters

Goosen's two U.S. Open wins are repeated here because the three major championships played in the U.S. have been part of the European Tour's schedule since 1998.

1991 Iscor Newcastle Classic
1992 Spoornet Classic, Bushveld Classic, Witbank Classic
1993 Mount Edgecombe Trophy
1995 Phillips South African Open
2002 Dimension Data Pro-Am
2003 Tiger Skins Game
2004 Nedbank Golf Challenge
2005 Volvo Masters-China (Asian Tour)
2006 Volvo Masters-China (Asian Tour), Nelson Mandela Invitational (unofficial money event in South Africa; with Bobby Lincoln)