(Duluth, GA, March 6, 2006) — South African Retief Goosen, the third ranked player in the world and the winner of both the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open Championships, will play at the 2006 BellSouth Classic. The 38th annual PGA TOUR event will be played March 27th — April 2nd at TPC at Sugarloaf in Duluth. Goosen, Chris Dimarco, David Toms and defending champion Phil Mickelson will join 140 more of the world’s top golfers who will be competing over 72 holes for a first prize check of $954,000 and a total purse of $5.3 million. Here are some quick facts on Goosen:
â?¢ Goosen won the BellSouth Classic in 2002, his second U.S. title. He played his final 13 holes on Sunday in five under par, grabbing the title by four shots over Jesper Parnevik and by five over Phil Mickelson. He has enjoyed additional success in Atlanta, capturing The TOUR Championship in 2004.
â?¢ He enjoyed a remarkably consistent 2005 season missing just one cut in 18 starts and recording eight top 10s. The best of the bunch was his win at The International where he was forced to play 36 holes on the final day of the rain-plagued event. He also recorded solo thirds at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and The Masters and solo fourths at the Bay Hill Invitational and The TOUR Championship. His money total of $3,494,106 ranked eighth and was his third straight year over the $3 million mark. He is one of only two players with wins in each of the past five years (Tiger Woods has 10 straight).
â?¢ Goosen has also won seven straight years on the European Tour including last year at the Linde German Masters. He also won the 2005 Volkswagen China Masters.
â?¢ Goosen’s victory in the 2001 U.S. Open was an emotional roller coaster ride. Needing to two-putt from 12 feet on the final green for the win, he missed a two-footer that sent him into a playoff the next day with Mark Brooks. Remarkably he was able to weather the storm and get the job done. He became the eighth player in the past half-century to make the U.S. Open his first American victory.
â?¢ He is a native of Pietersburg, South Africa, and began playing at the age of 11. As a teen, he was struck by lightning on the golf course, resulting in lingering health problems for years.
â?¢ Goosen has played in just one U.S. event so far in the early going. He finished tied for fifth at the WGC-Accenture World Match Play Championship. The $240,000 jumped his career earnings to $14,853,565.
â?¢ He is a six-time Dunhill Cup Team participant (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000)â?¦.Four- time World Cup selection (1993, 1995, 2000 and 2001)….He was also a Presidents Cup team member in 2000, 2003 and 2005.
Contact:
John Marshall
Media Director
(770) 436-2643
Brent Fowler
BellSouth Corporation
(404) 249-2839
