The Augusta National is a place of such symmetry, it was appropriate that 30 years after one South African, Gary Player, won his third and last Masters, another should win his first. Not so much the passing of a torch as the handing over of a green jacket. The surprising aspect is that the South African was not Ernie Els or Retief Goosen, who have five major championship victories between them, but Trevor Immelman.

At 28, Immelman straddles two generations. He is young by the standards of recent major champions, the youngest Masters champion since Woods won his second title in 2001, aged 25. Yet he is old enough - just - to be at the tail-end of the generation of South Africans that includes Els and Goosen, who were born ten years earlier. Could this be the start of a career to match those of his compatriots?

There has been a steady upward progression about Immelman's career from his amateur days in the late 1990s to a Challenge Tour triumph in 2000, victories on the European Tour in 2003 and 2004 and his breakthrough in the United States in a tour event in 2006. He may not match the achievements of Els, who was 24 when he won the first of his three major championships, but he could equal those of Goosen, whose first triumph in the US Open came when he was 32 and his second three years later.

Still, the South African with whom Immelman has the closest link is Player. They go back a long way together. As long ago as 1984, when Immelman was 5, a photo was taken of him being held up by Player and smiling broadly. The smile was memorable; it revealed no front teeth.

In the following years the intense young man would write to Player and telephone him. Sometimes Player would issue a “well done” or a slap on the wrist. “I think he recognised that I had such a passion for the game,” Immelman said. “That's why he kept writing me notes, answering my calls and letters and being there to give me support and advice. He has been like another type of father to me.”

Player left a message for Immelman on Saturday night explaining that he would be unable to be there to support him the next day because he was due to be flying to the Middle East. In fact, Player was there see his countryman - and at a time of crisis. Player was among the crowd on Sunday when Immelman faced a difficult bunker shot to the sloping 9th green. having just three-putted the 8th and with Steve Flesch two strokes behind him. Player watched Immelman extricate himself skilfully and returned to the clubhouse.

There is an intensity about Immelman that is not present in many of his peers. It was noticeable when he first appeared in Europe competing in amateur events in the summer of 1997. He was the South African Amateur champion and the US Amateur Public Links champion and was hoping to add the Amateur Championship being played that year at Royal St George's to his list of successes. He was focused and confident and made a well-documented telephone call home on the eve of the final, saying: “I'll call you tomorrow after I've won.” His defeat taught him about hubris.

The same intensity was noticeable last week. While Brandt Snedeker, his playing partner on Saturday and Sunday, ambled around Augusta National with a smile welded on to his face, Immelman was Player-like, head down, intent, a small man with a big job on his hands. “I was very impressed [with Trevor],” Snedeker said. “I've played with very few golfers who can manage their emotions, manage their swings and manage the golf course that well.”

Immelman hits his irons well, has vision and touch on and around the greens, but his driving was his forte last week. Again and again he wound himself up into the backswing position reminiscent of Ben Hogan before unleashing coiled-up power and sending his ball down the middle of the fairway. Immelman led the field in driving accuracy and was 17th in driving distance, averaging 293 yards.

It was Immelman's week as he became the first man since Severiano Ballesteros in 1980 to lead from start to finish. But there were moments on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon when one wondered whether it might have been Paul Casey's. The Englishman called a penalty stroke on himself when his ball was blown by the wind after he had addressed it on the 6th green on Sunday at a time when, having dropped three strokes on the two previous holes, it had begun to go wrong. It ended his challenge, simple as that. “Just when you think, right, a par here and I'll right the ship and end the bogey streak,” Casey said. “It was out of my hands and very difficult to handle.”

In a Masters that was otherwise notable for slow play, all credit to Casey for his observance of the rules and his honesty. And all credit to Immelman for his victory.