Oosthuizen, Schwartzel and Grace can put SA golf back on the green
BACK WITH A BANG: Louis Oosthuizen is fitter THE first Major of the year has arrived, and with it a very real sense that South Africa’s Masters hopefuls are blossoming as beautifully as the azaleas at Augusta National Golf Club.
It’s in Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace that the greatest hope rests.
Quite simply, Oosthuizen’s back is in the right place, Schwartzel’s head is in the right place and Grace’s date with destiny is in the right place.
Oosthuizen won on the European Tour in February and then lost to world No 1 Jason Day in the recent Dell Match Play. He also finished tied seventh in the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship, won in a playoff by countryman Schwartzel.
Oosthuizen is doing a better job of managing his troublesome back, including a more targeted fitness routine and a travelling mattress which he takes to tournaments. It proves that when fit Oosthuizen is one of the best players in the game with arguably the best swing.
Schwartzel’s win in the Valspar Championship early in March was the biggest boost in a season where he’s already won twice on the European Tour.
This is going to be a big year for Schwartzel, and it could gain momentum at the Masters.
In February, Schwartzel said: “I love the feeling that’s going on inside of me. It’s a very positive vibe. I’ve just got a great feeling for this year, whatever it brings.”
A week later he won the Tshwane Open and then came the victory in the US that was his first since that 2011 Masters triumph.
Schwartzel has had a mindshift from playing not to lose to playing for the pure passion of his talent.
“If you start over-analysing things and making them too important, you create an illusion in your head that actually stops you from achieving whatever you want to achieve,” he said.
He has come through a lengthy period of introspection in which he struggled to process playing badly after winning the Masters.
“Suddenly, you go from being a European Tour winner to winning the biggest tournament in golf. When it started going bad, you think that you can’t be playing this badly because you’ve won the biggest tournament in the world. What’s wrong with you?”
Having rediscovered his passion for the game, there is no telling what he could do at Major Championship level.
As Brandon Stone noted when Schwartzel was storming away from the field in the Tshwane Open: “When Charl is hungry, he’s impossible to beat.”
Grace heads to Augusta knowing all eyes are on him as the country’s next Major winner after his top-five finishes last year in the US Open and PGA Championship.
“I know what Major Championship golf feels like now. I know what being in the hunt feels like. I definitely want to see my name on one of those trophies,” he said of those experiences.
Grace felt he put a little too much into his preparation for last year’s Masters, where he missed the cut. His aim this year will be a more lowkey entry into the week.
If his putting matches his ball striking, Grace can win the Masters. As a ball striker he’s one of the best in the world.
But the key for Grace has been his work with vision specialist Sherylle Calder, which has made him a more consistent putter.
And he heads to Augusta with a true belief that he belongs in that field.
“I can see myself there among Jordan [Spieth], Jason [Day] and Rory [McIlroy].
“I don’t think the type of golf we play is very different, it just depends on what you make of your breaks when you get them.”
I know what being in the hunt feels like. I want my name on one of those trophies