Oosthuizen and Schwartzel chose US over Europe for their tour
Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and South African Charl Schwartzel have officially announced that they will play in the US PGA circuit for the 2011 season.
The announcement has been declared on the PGA Tour's official website.
Oosthuizen, who won the Open in July at St Andrews, is ranked 23rd in the world and 10th on the Race to Dubai Rankings. Early this year, he destroyed Lee Westwood’s confidence when he held the Claret Jug high, while
Westy stood shocked as the runner-up. He became the fourth South African to hoist the flag high on the sacred ground of Old Course, Scotland. Bobby Locke, Gary Player, and Ernie Els attained the same height before the 28-year-old.
He was nominated for the PGA Grand Slam 2010, but could not appear in the event, owing to an injury, which he incurred on a hunting expedition. As a result of this, Oosthuizen was forced to withdraw from several tournaments. However,
the South African has fully recovered from the problem and will be meeting the top sixty players on the European tour in Dubai for the final championship.
On the other hand, his compatriot, Schwartzel won five times on the European Tour. Moreover, he declared two victories in 2010 and is ranked 37th in the world rankings. The veteran stood second to Ernie Els at the WGC-CA
Championship at Doral in March, but is not following his footsteps. Charl announced in response to the new policy that he would be seen only on the US circuit. Two months ago, the PGA Tour announced that minimum criteria of 12 to 13 tournaments in a year will
have to be maintained or else the membership will be cancelled.
Oosthuizen who won a five-year US PGA Tour exemption along with a claret jug at St Andrews and Schwartzel claimed his spot on the Tour by winning enough money as a non-member in 2010 has decided to mitigate the risk. Both South
Africans have opted for the US tour rather than the European tour. One more veteran has joined them and he is Ian Poulter; the winner of the USB Hong Kong Open 2010.
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