South African Charl Schwartzel has two missed cuts and one injury-forced withdrawal in his eight PGA Tour starts this season as he heads to The Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Schwartzel has put injury concerns aside as he looks to gain some much-needed momentum in what has been a stop-start season on the PGA Tour.
‘Icing the wrist. It’s getting better, looking forward to this week, definitely one of my favorites @MemorialGolf #Muirfield Village,’ tweeted Schwartzel, allaying fears over a lengthy break.
The injury was severe enough to force him out of the Byron Nelson last week, after missing the cut at The Players earlier in May.
Schwartzel picked up the injury after being hit by a ball during the Valspar Championship pro-am earlier in the year. He finished sixth that week in his title defence, which also represented his second-best finish of the year after his Sunday run at Augusta saw him finish in third.
The 32-year-old South African, now ranked 20th in the world and 75th in the FedExCup, will be looking for all-round improvement at the Nicklaus-designed course in Dublin, Ohio as he ranks well outside the top 100 in strokes gained off the tee and around the green.
The challenge this week is amplified even more by the presence of the top seven in the FedExCup, including leader and world number one Dustin Johnson. Johnson is the red-hot favourite, but has Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth in hot pursuit.
Schwartzel is an afternoon starter as he gets his challenge under way with Canada’s Adam Hadwin and potential Presidents Cup teammate Emiliano Grillo of Argentian at 13:38 (US time).
Retief Goosen is the only other South African in the field this week.
