A Hall Of Famer Reflects

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA | He had just come in from playing golf at nearby Cypress Point and, he reported, he had started well. “I was 4 under after six holes,” Retief Goosen said. “Mind you, I was 4 under after 18 too, thanks to two double bogeys.”

The highlights of this friendly round were his birdies at Cypress’s two short holes on the back nine. Slipping quickly into the sort of precis he would give at the end of a round in a tournament, he said: “Nine-iron to 4 feet on the 15th and 3-rescue to 20 feet on the 16th. Holed ’em both.

“We were behind Trevino and Watson,” Goosen continued with a slight smile. “You could hear what Trevino was saying even though he was in the group ahead. His comments came back to us on the wind. It was great.”

That’s the Retief Goosen we remember, a big powerful man with a long stride and a measured tread, the man who turned 50 four months ago is now playing on the PGA Tour Champions. On his day, Goosen rarely seemed flustered and could hole putts with astonishing regularity on greens that conf...