Charl Schwartzel tuning up his game for the Masters at the Shell Houston Open -Golf News
Charl Schwartzel is headed to the Redstone Golf Club in Humble, Texas, in order to participate in the final PGA Tour event, Shell Houston Open, prior to the Masters Tournament that starts in the first week of April.
Schwartzel is actually preparing to defend his title at the Augusta National Golf Club.
For this purpose, he chose to participate in the Houston Open, which offers almost the same conditions as the Augusta National does.
Therefore, Schwartzel believes that the tournament will serve as a warm-up event for him. As a result, it will help him prepare for the very next tournament on the schedule, the Masters.
"It's always one of my favourite events, and not because it's the week before the Masters," Schwartzel told reporters at Redstone on Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time).
Earlier on, he stormed to his first major title with a four-birdie finish at Augusta National last year.
he also stated, "The way they set up the golf course, it's known to be very good practice for Augusta but I just like the golf course as it is. It's just a bonus that they do set it up very similar [to the Masters]".
In the current season, he has played four PGA Tour events and succeeded in registering two top-10 finishes, which speaks of his good form.
Moreover, his masterly strokes can help him outclass his opponents at any time on the course.
For that reason, his performance in the Houston Open will clearly give an idea to his opponents about how well he is prepared to defend the first major event of the season.
Apart from playing in the Houston Open, Schwartzel also visited the Augusta National Golf Club last week, in order to gather complete knowledge of the current playing conditions.
“For next week, I'm very excited,” he said. “It's going to be a big week, and I'm going to try and keep it as normal as possible”.
Lee Westwood is another player who is participating in the Houston Open with an aim to make maximum preparations for the Masters next week.
According to him, he is currently in a good form to register his first major title win of the career.
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