Charl Schwartzel makes his debut at the Tshwane Open this week and the 10-time European Tour winner is feeling ready to contend for another title.
‘I feel refreshed and ready to go again. I’ve practiced a lot, worked on the things that I was working on before the break, and, although I’ll have to see how things go under the pressures of tournament play, I’m happy with my game,’ said the 2011 Masters champ, who is often hyper-critical of his form.
The 31-year-old has been hampered by illness this season and missed a few starts, but prior to that he was impressive, not only in winning the 2015 Alfred Dunhill Championship, but also in sharing ninth at the Nedbank Golf Challenge one week later. After that he was sidelined by a stomach virus, but it came with a silver lining.
‘It was good to just be away from tournament pressures and to have time to just spend time with my family. And now I feel refreshed and ready to go again,’ he said.
The world number 43 is a favourite to win at Pretoria Country Club this week, but faces a wave of new talent coming out of South Africa. Recent European Tour winners Haydn Porteous and Brandon Stone will be joined by fellow young guns Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Zander Lombard. All four are younger than 23 and have been in contention on the European Tour.
‘It’s great to see those youngsters coming through,’ Schwartzel summarized.
