South Africa's Charl Schwartzel said he was satisfied with his performance at the Masters. Picture: Kevin C Cox/Getty Images
While South Africa’s representatives at the Masters never really threatened and finished well outside the top 20 they were still handsomely compensated for their efforts at Augusta National Golf Club at the weekend.
South Africa’s best performers were 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen. The pair finished in a tie for 26th and won $92,000 each – roughly R1.3 million.
Interestingly, the year that Schwartzel won, the leading low amateur was none other than Sunday’s winner of the 2021 Masters, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who pocketed $2.07 million (R30.2 million).
The only other South African to make the halfway cut this year was SA Open champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout. After a strong start to the tournament he faded somewhat over the weekend and finished in a tie for 40th, which earned him $49,450 (roughly R723 000).
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Dylan Frittelli, who finished in a tie for fifth in the delayed 2020 Masters in November last year and earned $437 000, missed the cut this year.
“I felt very prepared,” said Schwartzel about his week.
“I felt like this is about as happy as I’ve been with my game for a long time. I think it was about as comfortable as I’ve ever felt here, felt like I hit the ball as close as I’ve ever hit it here.
“I just really got nothing out of it, which means in laymen’s terms, I didn’t make any putts.”
Oosthuizen characterised his week as disappointing.
“I always look forward to this week, playing it,” he said.
“It’s a golf course I love, and I probably came in here the best I’ve been stroking it. It was the other part of the game that I was struggling with.
“Every year you learn something new about this golf course and hopefully I’ll be back here next year to try again.”
Bezuidenhout was unable to convert his great start of two-under 70 into more under-par rounds to get himself into contention in a tournament many feel he could win.
He closed with a level-par 72, but after second and third rounds of 76 and 74, his four-over-par total was too far off the pace. – Jacques van der Westhuyzen, with additional reporting by Mike Green, courtesy satourgolf.co.za
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