Goosen back on comfortable ground

By Mike Blum

Special to the AJC

Retief Goosen is very happy to be back in Atlanta, and at East Lake in particular.

Two of Goosen’s seven PGA Tour victories have come here — at Sugarloaf in 2002 and the Tour Championship in 2004. Goosen finished fourth at East Lake each of the next two years, but after two uncharacteristically unproductive seasons in 2007 and ’08, he did not qualify for the Tour Championship.

A second career win in Tampa and several other excellent efforts this year have Goosen back among the PGA Tour’s elite and in the field again at East Lake.

Goosen returned to a slightly different version of a golf course he thrives on and turned in a typical Goosen effort Thursday at East Lake. Two birdies and one bogey, that coming on the finishing hole courtesy of  a lip-out.

Thanks to a 1-under 69, Goosen stands tied for sixth after the opening round and has realistic hopes of a third win in Atlanta and a second Tour Championship title.

Winning the FedExCup, however, not so much.

Entering the Tour Championship, Goosen was 15th on the points list and has an outside chance at claiming the FedExCup title with a victory at East Lake.

“I didn’t know I had a chance to win it,” Goosen said somewhat facetiously after concluding his round.

Goosen would need points leader Tiger Woods to finish outside the top 10 this week, which none of the players in a similar position in the standings to Goosen expects to happen.

Nevertheless, Goosen was in good cheer after his opening 69, the lip-out at 18 notwithstanding.

“It’s nice to be back,” the 40-year-old South African said. “The course has changed a little bit, and the greens have a different grass. When I got to the sixth hole with the new back tees … that’s kind of a scary hole.”

Following the first of his two U.S. Open titles in 2001, Goosen was a consistently outstanding performer on the PGA Tour, placing in the top 10 on the money list four years in a row with six victories between 2001 and ’05.