Gary Player has been waiting on the other side of the Champions Locker Room door for 47 years, hoping that a countryman would walk through to join him.

2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson puts the green jacket on 2008 champion Trevor Immelman. He became the second South African to win the Masters. (Annette M. Drowlette/Staff)

That 28-year-old Trevor Immelman jumped the queue to be the first to step through might be attributable to the collective work of fellow South Africans weakening the door.

"This tournament is such a big deal down in South Africa," Immelman said. "We grow up idolizing this event. You know, kids dream about winning this tournament. Just as I did."

Five of the previous eight years, a South African has finished second in the Masters Tournament. Four guys have done it six times -- Ernie Els (2000, '04), Retief Goosen (2002, '07), Tim Clark (2006) and Rory Sabbatini (2007). It has been a national passion for so long because Player set the bar with three green jackets as part of his career grand slam.

That it is Immelman who joins Player is fitting even if it seems a little out of order. It was Immelman who Player hoisted onto his shoulders when the Cape Town prodigy was only 5 years old. It was Immelman who Player made one of his 2005 captain's picks in the Presidents Cup, giving the young pro passage into the PGA Tour. It was Immelman whose swing Player likened to that of Ben Hogan.

"You know, after I turned pro, he was there for a kick in the butt when I wasn't playing well or when he saw something that he didn't like that I was doing," Immelman said. "And so he's been kind of like another type of a father for me. And to have somebody with that much experience on your side, giving you advice is just incredible."

That advice came pouring from Player all the way up to the eve of Immelman's defining moment. Player left a voice mail for him on Saturday night before he departed on yet another overseas journey. Immelman listened to it as he left the Augusta National property with the 54-hole lead and admitted "it gave me goosebumps."

Like most monologues Player delivers, the message was comprehensive.

"He told me that he believed in me and I need to believe in myself," said Immelman. "And he told me I've got to keep my head a little quieter when I putt. He said I'm just peeking too soon. He told me to just go out there and be strong through adversity, because he said that adversity would come today, and I just had to deal with it."

But most of all Player told Immelman "I know you're going to win."

"You know, I took that all to heart," Immelman said. "And I'm obviously thankful for the message and I'm sure he's proud of me."

Dealing with adversity has been Immelman's modus operandi for the last 12 months since making the cut last year at Augusta despite picking up an intestinal parasite that sidelined him for a month and claimed 22 pounds from his lean frame. Then four months ago, after winning in his native country, he was lying in a South African hospital zonked on morphine and waiting to find out whether the tumor on his diaphragm was cancerous.

That he found himself four months later slipping on a green jacket a week after missing the cut in Houston struck him as "the craziest thing I've ever heard of."

But Immelman never faltered on a blustery Sunday when train wrecks were littering the holes in front of him and nobody in the top 12 starting the day broke par. In becoming the first winner at the Masters since Seve Ballesteros in 1980 to lead after each of the rounds, Immelman held off all challengers with laser-like driving and superlative control.

"I was very impressed," said Brandt Snedeker, who spoke through his own emotions to praise the way Immelman played. "I've played with very few golfers who can manage their emotions, manage their swing and manage the golf course that well. If he had putted great ... it wouldn't have been anywhere in the ballpark of close."

Immelman, who came into the week ranked 202nd out of 204 players on the PGA Tour in putts per green in regulation, made the clutch putts when it counted on Sunday, saving pars on Nos. 9 and 11 when he could have opened the door to the field behind him.

Now the young man is the only player in the world under 30 with a major and the first former U.S. Amateur Public Links champion to achieve that milestone.

"I've always dreamed about winning majors, and deep down, I always thought I was good enough," he said. "But you know, at times you obviously doubt yourself. You miss a few cuts and you screw up a few times and you're just like, 'Man, maybe I'm not as good, or not good enough.' "

On the week Player set the all-time record for Masters starts at 51, he will happily welcome Immelman as a regular at the Champions Dinner table.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.