By Mark Lamport-Stokes
MARANA, Arizona Feb 21 (Reuters) – Charl Schwartzel
has never had the feeling before or since but somehow he just
knew he was going to win last year’s Masters before teeing off
in the final round.
The slender South African was four strokes off the pace
after 54 holes at Augusta National and went on to clinch his
first major victory by two shots with a scintillating
birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie finish.
“I woke up that morning and I felt like I was going to win,”
Schwartzel told reporters at Dove Mountain’s Ritz-Carlton Golf
Club on Tuesday while preparing for this week’s WGC-Accenture
Match Play Championship.
“I honestly did. I had this complete calmness about it, too.
That was the best part about it. It’s all good to say I’m going
to win today, but if you are all nervous inside then you
actually have doubts.
“I felt so calm and I was so convinced that I could do it.
Obviously I couldn’t have asked for a much better start. That
put me right in there.”
Schwartzel launched his final round with a birdie-par-eagle
run on the way to a six-under-par 66, the lowest score of the
day, as he became the third South African to win the Masters.
“At Augusta, I was playing so consistently but (before the
final round) I never got on a birdie run where you make two or
three birdies in a row to move your score up the board,” said
the 27-year-old, a seven-times champion on the European Tour.
“I felt like I was playing so well and I was in control of
it. You don’t get that feeling very often. I might have had
glimpses of it before but never as much as I had that specific
week.”
Continued…
