Highlights from the final round of The Open Championship – Part 6
2011 Masters winner, Charl Schwartzel carded 16 bogeys, two double-bogeys against 15 birdies in the four-day session. The bogey count proved the level of game that the South African delivered during the Open Championship.
The owner of the green jacket teed off from the front and rolled a birdie putt on the par-4 first hole. The birdie earned him a huge applause from the crowd, however, Schwartzel’s fans were in for a surprise, and that too not a good one.
After birdying the first hole, the seven-time winner of the European Tour dropped two consecutive shots, canceling out the edge he had gained early morning.
However, Schwartzel regained some composure and marched towards the next holes, clamping two more birdies to seal the first half with a score of one-under-par.
The 26-year-old’s worst nightmare back at the back though, as the weather started to dominate the proceedings. Unable to cope with the windy conditions, the player bogeyed two and double-bogeyed one hole against a single birdie and wrapped the day with a
72.
Commenting on the weather, the player said, “Well, this morning, like I say, was very calm. You could fire at the flag. In a way, it felt like playing a parkland course. You do not sort of have to bounce it up. But when we turned for the back nine it started
getting windy, and it got tough. Like I said, hitting 380-yard drives, so the wind has got to be blowing for you to be hitting it that far.”
A similar score was compiled by Y.E Yang, who carded three rounds in scores of 70s. The South Korean followed the trend set by majority of the field and teed off from the front, but could not take much advantage of the easier layout. Instead, he bogeyed
four holes against two birdies and wrapped the day with a 72.
The 22nd spot on the leaderboard was occupied by Tom Watson, Tom Lehman and Anders Hansen.
Lehman, who plays on the Champions Tour, started the round in 13th place and stopped at 22nd by the end of the tournament. He failed to conquer the long pars on most of the par fives, which ultimately became the reason behind his unimpressive
scorecard.
The American had earlier said in an interview, “Length isn't really a huge advantage. There's a couple of holes today where it might be. I saw the long guys were driving number five but I can reach the par fives.”
However, results were the exact opposite of what Lehman had in mind. He carded a single birdie and bogeyed six holes to post a score of 75.
Article continued in Part 7…
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