Apr 8, 2002 5 min read

DULUTH, Ga. (AP) – Retief Goosen has been struck by lightning. He has missed a gimme putt to win the U.S. Open. He certainly wasn’t going to let a dismal start Sunday get him down.

Goosen began the final round of the BellSouth Classic with a bogey and a double-bogey, actually falling two shots behind Phil Mickelson. The South African bounced back for a four-stroke victory over Jesper Parnevik, with Mickelson another shot back.

“I knew if I won or lost today, I was still going to wake up tomorrow morning and have to do it all over again,” said Goosen, who closed with a 2-under-par 70 despite treacherous conditions on the TPC at Sugarloaf.

He’s so laid-back that countryman Ernie Els (The Big Easy) seems hyper by comparison. That attitude is understandable considering Goosen was struck by lightning as an amateur, damaging his heart and costing him some hearing in his left ear.

Goosen was tested again at last year’s U.S. Open, where he missed an 18-inch putt that would have given him the victory in regulation. He bounced back the following day to beat Mark Brooks in a playoff.

“I take it a little bit easier out there on the golf course now than I used to in the past,” Goosen said. “I’m not so hard on myself. I just try and enjoy the game a little bit more.”

He’s sure had plenty to enjoy since winning his first major. Already this year, the 33-year-old Goosen has won tournaments on three continents, adding the BellSouth to victories on the European and South African tours.

“It’s been a great nine or 10 months for me,” he said. “I don’t really know how to explain it.”

Goosen pulled away from the field with a 16-under 272. Parnevik, who posted 65 early in the day for a 276, wasn’t even around when the winner finished.

Mickelson appeared to be Goosen’s main challenger, starting the final round two strokes back. The left-hander briefly claimed the lead, only to fade to a 73 and 277.

“I actually hit a lot of good shots,” Mickelson said. “I just had a hard time getting it close. It is hard to really describe. You just have to see it.”

Goosen headed off to the Masters – about a two-hour drive away – with the kind of short game that makes him a contender for his second major championship.

“It’s similar greens, and similar shots into the greens,” he said. “There’s some great lessons learned here for next week.”

Goosen already knows how to shake off disappointment. He started with a three-putt from 25 feet. At the par-3 second hole, he needed two shots to escape a bunker and missed a 4-foot putt.

Suddenly, his two-shot advantage over Mickelson was a two-shot deficit.

“I just concentrated on staying focused,” Goosen said. “I knew there were still 16 holes to play.”

Mickelson birdied the second hole, but struggled the rest of the way. Errant iron play – he hit only five of 18 greens in regulation – and shaky putting negated the impact of his booming drives.

Not exactly a confidence boost going to Augusta. “I will practice quite a bit on and around the greens because you never really get accustomed to Augusta’s greens,” Mickelson said.

The Sugarloaf greens were Masters-like after drying out in four days of sun and steady breezes. Parnevik was one of only three players who broke 70.

Some of the scores were downright ugly: Steve Elkington, who was tied for the lead midway through the tournament, signed for an 81 that included five bogeys and three double-bogeys.

Goosen turned things around at the par-5 fourth hole. After knocking his second shot to the right of the green, he chipped in from 100 feet away for an eagle.

Mickelson, meanwhile, was having all sorts of trouble at the same hole. He yanked his tee shot into a bunker on the right side, then banged his second shot into the creek that meanders left of the fairway.

The ball ricocheted off a rock and came to rest in tall grass on the other side. That fortunate bounce didn’t prevent Mickelson from taking bogey.

Goosen did a better job of scrambling, using his short irons time and time again to escape trouble. At No. 7, his second shot sailed into the gallery. After workers removed a sign that blocked his view of the flag, Goosen pitched off the pine straw and over some television wires, the ball rolling to a stop about 5 feet from the hole. He made that to save par.

Mickelson needed par on the last hole to finish tied for second, but he went for the green from 267 yards and wound up in the lake after a wild, one-handed swing.

He settled for a bogey, bumping him to third and reducing his paycheck by $76,000.

“I thought about laying up,” Mickelson said. “I hit just an awful shot.”

Parnevik appeared to shoot himself out of contention with a 76 on Saturday. He played 11 strokes better in the final round and finished brilliantly at 18: a 249-yard 5-wood over the water, followed by a putt that went in from nearly 60 feet away.

“That was like shooting 60,” Goosen said. “It was an unbelievable round.” Divots:@ Defending champion Scott McCarron made a charge on the back nine, putting together four straight birdies to finish at 68. He was six strokes back, alone in fourth. … Zach Johnson, a regular on the Hooters Tour, three-putted from 31/2 feet on the final hole, costing him a top-10 finish. If Johnson had made the first putt, he would have tied for eighth, good enough for an exemption into the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic in three weeks. Instead, he tied for 17th.