AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Trevor Immelman, who knows all about having a hard time catching his breath, was having a hard time again yesterday.

It can be a daunting chore, especially on the back nine on Sunday at the Augusta National Golf Club. Especially when the breezes are freshening as though the Pacific Ocean, not Washington Road, abuts the golf course.

You're Trevor Immelman. You have never won a major, you have a five-shot lead with three to play and, suddenly, mysteriously, you pull a Greg Norman: You hit your 8-iron tee shot into the water at the par-3 16th. Try sucking wind there, folks.

"I tried not to get too upset and keep my emotions in check," Immelman said. "I knew I was sitting pretty good."

Want a little more angst? Tiger Woods, the No. 1 player in the world, is lurking in the clubhouse, having finished with a birdie at the final hole.

Now what?

"It seemed like with the conditions, there was disaster around every corner," Immelman said. "I was just trying to hang in there. How many two-shot swings did we have out there? You can have a two-shot swing every hole."

There is something special about Immelman. Maybe it's the steely eyes that pierced the fading sunlight at Augusta National, tracking his ball like lasers. Maybe it's the swing his countryman and idol, Gary Player, said is "absolutely the closest I've ever seen to Ben Hogan."

Whatever it is, Immelman had it yesterday, had it all week, really, when he became the first wire-to-wire winner at the Masters in 28 years. Still, he couldn't breathe.

Not until that final tee shot, when his ball cut through the long shadows that stretched across the 18th hole. That's when Immelman could breathe again. Finally.

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

There is no doubting the manner in which Immelman, 28, won his first major title, joining Player as the only native of South Africa to win a green jacket. Ernie Els, who has three major titles, doesn't have one. Neither does Retief Goosen, though he has won two U.S. Opens.

He did not back into the title the way Woods backed into second place. No, he did much more than that. He outlasted everybody with patience, composure and just the right amount of tenacity, even with the highest final-round score (75) by a Masters champion since Arnold Palmer in 1962.

More important, he produced shots when he needed them most. Like the bunker shot to 3 feet at No. 17 to save par. Or the approach to 15 feet at the final hole, a dazzling shot considering his ball was sitting in a divot as long as a tire mark. That's why he's Masters champion.

"Phenomenal," said Brandt Snedeker, who played in the final group with Immelman. "The last two days, I don't think I've ever seen anybody drive the ball like that anywhere. It was unbelievable display of ball-striking."

Make no mistake, Immelman has come a long way in four months. In December, he was lying in a hospital bed, wondering if a tumor that was removed from his diaphragm was malignant or benign. In the two days he had to wait for the test results, Immelman had thoughts a whole lot more frightening than Steve Flesch chasing him on the back nine at Augusta National.

Doctors removed the tumor, which was benign. He could breathe easy again, though the 7-inch scar on his back reminds Immelman what could have been. Even green jackets can't erase that.

"This has been the ultimate roller-coaster ride," Immelman said. "And I hate roller coasters."

Yesterday, his only stumble came at No. 16, the 170-yard par 3, when he alarmingly watered his tee shot and made double bogey. Nobody saw that one coming, not even Immelman.

Until then, he was headed for the largest Masters victory since Woods obliterated the field in 1997. Immelman wanted to blame a swirling wind for the misstep, but he didn't.

"To be fair, I made a poor swing and pulled it," Immelman said.

"He made a little hiccup on 16, but you're going to do that when you're trying to win your first major," Snedeker said. "I hiccupped the whole way around the golf course. But he held it in there for 15 holes."

When he recounts his magical week, Immelman will remember another breath-taking moment: His ball backing up on the 15th green in the third round, sliding down a shaved embankment toward a greenside pond. He will remember the ball stopping, almost magically, as though someone, maybe Player, raised his hand from the soil and said, "Far enough."

Immelman saved par. He might have saved the tournament.

That's what Player saw in Immelman when he compared his swing to Hogan, whom he always considered "the best striker of the ball from tee to green that I ever saw." After the third round, when Immelman had a two-shot lead, Player called on the phone and left him a voice-mail message.

"It gave me goose bumps," Immelman said. "He told me he believed in me and I need to believe in myself. He was telling me I'm good enough to do it."

Finally, he could exhale.