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The two other SA golfers in the field are Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Thriston Lawrence.
Charl Schwartzel of Stinger GC finished second in the Miami LIV golf tournament. Picture: Lauren Sopourn/Getty Images
While 40-year-old South African golfer Charl Schwartzel isn’t among the favourites to win this week’s Masters tournament at Augusta National in Georgia, he’ll tee off in good form – and with a lot of money in his bank account.
The 2011 winner at Augusta is one of three South Africans in the field this week, the other two being former SA Open champions, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Thriston Lawrence. Both men nowadays play on the PGA Tour, while Schwartzel is active on the LIV Golf Tour.
The year’s first Major gets under way on Thursday, with American Scottie Scheffler the defending champion.
LIV Golf Tour
Schwartzel is the most in-form player of the three South Africans, having enjoyed a solid LIV season so far.
On Sunday at the fifth tournament of the league, in Miami, the South African shot up the leaderboard at Trump Doral to finish second, one stroke behind winner Marc Leishman of Australia (-6).
Schwartzel carded a final round 66 including seven birdies. His second-place finish secured him $2.250 million, or R43.5 million.
Dean Burmester finished tied 14th, Louis Oosthuizen finished tied 30th and Branden Grace finished 50th.
Schwartzel will be pleased with his current form. In the four earlier LIV tournaments this season he finished tied 33rd in Riyadh, tied 12th in Adelaide, tied 20th in Hong Kong and tied 14th in Singapore.
Bezuidenhout and Lawrence
Bezuidenhout will be in action in his fourth Masters this weekend, but his first since 2022. In his previous three starts he’s always made the cut so he’ll be confident of a good showing.
His best performance this season on the PGA Tour came at the Phoenix Open in February where he finished in a tie for fourth. He also finished in a tie for 19th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but in recent weeks missed the cut at the Players and Valspar Championship.
Lawrence, in his debut season on the PGA Tour, has struggled. He’s missed six cuts in eight starts, after finishing tied fourth at last year’s Open at Royal Troon. He also had five runner-up finishes on the DP World Tour last year.
This will be Lawrence’s Masters debut.
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