Schwartzel pumped for Masters after extra time win

It has been five years since Charl Schwartzel last won in the United States. Of course, that was the 2011 Masters when he birdied the last four holes to edge out Aussie duo Jason Day and Adam Scott by two shots.

YES!! Charl Schwartzel celebrates after holing his par putt to win.
PHOTO: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images.

The South African has pushed his case forward as a Masters contender again, with an extra time victory in the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship.

Coming from five shots behind leader Bill Haas, Schwartzel opened his round with two birdies in the first three holes. On a day when most of the field was struggling to score under par, the 31-year-old shrugged off two bogies early in the back nine to make his run.

Schwartzel rolled in a 65-foot birdie putt on the par-3 13th hole. At the next, he got up-and-down from an ordinary lie in a greenside bunker for another birdie. Buoyed by a tough par save at the 16^th hole, he converted a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17^th before closing out with a regulation par to sign for a four under 67 – the best round of the final round – and seven under total.

Having held the lead from early in the third round, Haas made a bogey from the bunker on the 16th hole before closing with two pars to finish tied with Schwartzel.

The pair went back to the 18^th tee and the play-off was as good as done when Haas hit his tee shot into the tree line and hit his approach short into a deep greenside bunker. Schwartzel found the green and, when Haas missed his par-saver, he two-putted for the win.

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The 11-time European Tour winner said he was relieved to have final won again on the PGA Tour.

“It really is a great feeling,” he said. “You know, winning back in 2011 the biggest tournament in our sport, you know, your expectations go up and I figured that I would win a few times the way I played.

“But it just never came and then I went through a bad thing where my swing was a bit off and I lost a lot of confidence and, you know, you start thinking am I actually going to win out here again.

“You feel good enough because I played – I had a few wins outside of America on the European Tour so I knew it was good enough. I just needed to get over the hurdle of winning out here again and I think the way today I played out with it being really difficult, you're grinding just to make pars and keep the ball in play and it was really difficult.

“It takes your mind off the wind a little bit more than when you would normally be playing in really good conditions. I felt like at Riviera I was playing well but I had a bad weekend and the same thing at Doral. I knew the game was still in good shape. I just needed to put it together on the weekend when it counted.”

Schwartzel holds a trophy on American soil for the first time in five years.
PHOTO: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images.

Schwartzel said his victory in South Africa last month went a long way to helping him break his American win drought.

“I feed a lot off my wins. Doesn't matter where I win in the world,” he said. “I always say it takes the same amount of effort anywhere you win in the world. It always comes down to those last few holes and the special putts and special shots and if you can deal with it you can deal with anything. It's what you make of it.

“Just a little bit harder for me because of not winning out here again but I just kept saying you did it a couple weeks ago, you can do it again.”

He says he’s now champing at the bit to get back to Augusta in a few weeks with two wins under his belt in the past month.

“Nothing gets you pumped like winning,” Schwartzel smiled. “It's a place (Augusta) I feel very comfortable with and for me the best thing of all of it I've actually got my fade back.

“I grew up hitting a fade. I can fade the ball again and on that golf course hitting your second shots into the green, it's really important to be able to do that. Putting feels better too.

“All over it's a really good boost to going back and starting the first Major of the year. I mean it's a really exciting week and always look forward to it.”