Soon after he had woken up in his rented house in Augusta yesterday morning, Trevor Immelman played the messages that had accumulated on his phone overnight. Many came from South Africa, the country of his birth. His supporters were excited at the thought that Immelman, leading by two strokes, might go on and become the second Masters champion from their country. Some came from the friends that Immelman had made when he played on the European Tour.

There was one message to which Immelman paid particular attention. The distinctive tones of Gary Player, his fellow South African, gave him advice. “Take your time today, Trevor,” Player said. “Keep your eye on the ball for an extra second when you are putting. Remember, you will have bad breaks and try and put them out of your mind and, above all, remember you are an excellent player. I know you can do it.” Player closed the message with a cheery “good luck”.

As it happened, Immelman, 28, did not need any luck. Although he wobbled slightly midway through his round, none of his rivals was able to mount a significant challenge. Immelman won the 72nd Masters with a round of 75 that gave him victory by three strokes. He had become the first man since Severiano Ballesteros in 1980 to lead from start to finish and the first South African to win since Player 30 years ago.

Immelman also became the youngest man to win his first major championship since Tiger Woods won his first, here in 1997, aged 21.

Brandt Snedeker, the 2007 Rookie of the Year, who was nine under par and in the final pairing with Immelman, showed his inexperience and fell away, finishing four shots behind in a tie for third place.

Paul Casey’s challenge withered. Four strokes behind Immelman, Casey blossomed at first, getting to eight under par after three holes, but then collapsed spectacularly to return a round of 79.

More surprising than this, however, was the failure of Woods to mount a challenge of note. The world No 1 was chasing a fourteenth victory in a major championship. When he wanted to be at his best so that he could send signals back to Immelman, who was playing two groups behind, Woods was not. He holed a 15-foot putt for a birdie on the 18th green to secure second place. What would he have given not to have missed so many holeable putts in the previous few hours or to have had the 68 with which Miguel Ángel Jiménez concluded the Masters?

A defining moment for Immelman came on the 9th when his second shot ended in the first of the two bunkers on the left-hand side of the green. “Trev’s in trouble now, I’m afraid,” Nick Faldo said on American television. “You can see the tension in his shoulders.”

Immelman did not know it, but among the crowd was Player, the man who had played in his 51st Masters earlier in the week. Player had come out of the clubhouse to watch and must have liked what he saw.

With a good bunker shot and an even better eight-foot putt that had a couple of feet of break on it, Immelman holed out for a par, steadying himself, and moved to the 10th tee with a two-stroke lead. Immelman dropped a stroke on the 12th when his tee-shot ended in pine needles at the back of the green.

On the 16th, the last time he would have to play over water, he made a bad mistake. The safe shot on this hole is to the middle of the green. Immelman’s ball flew to the left, ending in the water perhaps 15 yards from where it should have landed. He got away with a five, dropping two strokes — his lead was now three.

When his drive at the 18th found the fairway, Immelman gave a visible exhalation. He had driven beautifully all week and, when he most wanted to, he had found the fairway. All that remained was a walk of 485 yards with the prospect of a green jacket waiting for him at the end.

Immelman lost 22lb because of a mystery bug in April last year and had a tumour that happily proved benign removed from his back last December. It was a taxing time for Immelman and his family. “I feel like I’ve been loaned a talent, not given one,” he said last week. The 72nd Masters champion has a green jacket and a welcome perspective on life.