Charl Schwartzel notched up his third top-10 finish of the season as he came within inches of forcing a playoff with American Daniel Berger at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.
After opening with three consecutive birdies, the South African quickly erased the memories of Saturday’s ‘pathetic’ four over par 74. He hasn’t won since the Valspar Championship in March 2016, and after a solid run at the Masters and his T6 at this year’s Valspar, it looked like Schwartzel could be re-entering the winner’s circle, just hours after his countryman Dylan Frittelli did so for the first time on the European Tour.
Two birdies on the back helped Schwartzel rise to the top of the leaderboard and at one point a staggering nine players were sharing first place. With Berger at -10, the 2011 Masters winner left his long birdie try on 17 just inches from the hole – enough to allow Berger the comfort he needed to seal a back to back win.
‘We hear a lot about the young guns and about the Justin Thomases and Jordan Spieths, but I feel like I kind of get forgotten a little bit,’ Berger said after matching Schwartzel’s 66 to claim the win. ‘I’m pretty good, so I’m just going to try and keep doing my thing and see if I can’t get a few more.’
‘Well played @DanielBerger59 @fesjcmemphis, great playing on the weekend @PGATOUR,’ tweeted the South African after his round.
South Africans Tyrone Van Aswegen (73) and Retief Goosen (76) failed to replicate any of the form they had over the previous three days and fell rapidly down the leaderboard on Sunday.
Berger now moves within sight of an automatic place on the Presidents Cup team after climbing to 11th on the list.
Schwartzel’s solo second finish helped him move up to 39th place in the FedExCup race.
Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images
