Charl Schwartzel - South Africa's latest golf star
Not many people had heard of Charl Schwartzel before his heroics at the final round of the Masters. Even if you had, it would be easy to forget all the young South African’s achievements, in light of his first major win.
Although mostly unknown in America before he won the 2011 Masters, Schwartzel had a bright career (he was ranked 29th prior to 2011 Masters Tournament) and was one the Rainbow nation’s up and coming stars.
Born in Johannesburg in 1984, Schwartzel enjoyed a successful amateur career in his home country. He joined Qualifying school after winning the Transvaal Amateur Championship in South Africa, the Brabazon Trophy in England and 2002 Indian Amateur Open in
India. He also represented South Africa at the Eisenhower Trophy that year in Malaysia.
He turned professional soon after he turned 18 in 2002. After finishing 24th on the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit list he earned full membership of the European Tour, becoming the second youngest South African to do so.
He won his first tournament in 2004 at the Dunhill Championship. He followed up the victory with a runner up finish at the South African Open. This propelled him to 1st place on the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit for the year, the first of the
four times that he did so.
The following year he again topped the Sunshine Tour’s Order of Merit after winning the last tournament of the season, the Vodacom Tour Championship. This also placed him at 52nd on the European Tour’s Order of Merit list.
The same year he finished at 22nd place in his third appearance at the Open Championship. He also played for the first time at the PGA Tour and finished tied for 48th at his first appearance at the US Open.
He continued his success on the European Tour in 2007, winning the Open de Espana in Spain. He bettered his performance at the US Open in 2006 and finished tied for 30th this time around.
In 2008 he won his third European Tour title at the Madrid Masters, despite being ill for most of the week, and finished 30th on the European Order of Merit. Despite going winless in 2009 he recorded a 17th place finish at the WGC Accenture
Match Play Championship and five top-ten finishes on the European Tour.
He opened his 2010 season with two back-to-back victories at the African Open and the Joburg Open. He played in 11 PGA tour events and recorded three top ten finishes including a 9th place finish at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship and
2nd place finish at the WGC-CA championship at the TPC Blue Monster, where he lost out to Ernie Els.
This also marked his entry into the top 50 of the World Golf Rankings.
Charl started 2011 with a successful defense of his title at the Joburg Open. He also joined the PGA Tour this year, and at the 2011 Masters became only the third South African to clinch the major.
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