Ken Borland

For all the heroism and courage Charl Schwartzel has shown on the golf course, the 28-year-old has been laid low this year by the most freakish of injuries – a torn rib cartilage muscle that he does not even know how he damaged.

“It was a bit of misfortune when I tore my intercostal at the U.S. Open in June– I don’t even know how it happened, I basically sat down and could hardly breathe. The doctor said you can cough and it can happen,” Schwartzel said at Sun City, where he is hoping to end the year on a high by becoming the first South African to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge in five years.

Schwartzel’s year had actually been fairly successful up till then, with nine top-20 finishes in 13 events, but the injury pretty much ruined the rest of his year and the three-time Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner is only now starting to get his game back on an even keel.

“My golf had been pretty good before that, but the injury put a halt to that. Then I came back two or three weeks early because I wanted to play in the Open, but I created some bad habits in my swing to play around the injury. That led to a lot of inconsistency and frustration,” he explained.

The 2011 Masters champion played in the SA Open at Serengeti two weeks ago and said he was still struggling to string together the four good rounds he needed to actually win a tournament. Schwartzel tied for fifth in the national open after shooting a disappointing 74 in the third round, but he went to town last week in Dubai, rounds of 68-67-67-68 leaving him in a tie for third  in the lucrative World Tour Championship.

But he still believes it is too early to say he is now back to his best and he is not talking up his chances of winning at Sun City.

“For the last month-and-a-half I’ve been pain-free and I’m getting the swing back to where it was. But it’s been a long process coming back from that injury and I’m not expecting anything this week. If I have a good week and play the way I know I can, then I’m easily capable of winning. But it’s too early to say what’s going to happen, even though things are definitely turning,” Schwartzel said.

Although Schwartzel always projects a relaxed, easy-going demeanour, there is no doubt he is not in the Pilanesberg for a holiday.

“I don’t care who you are, it’s never nice not to play well, so you’re always going to give it your best shot and see if you can win. There’s always a bit of extra pressure on the South Africans as well because most of the crowd want to see one of their own win. You don’t feel like letting everyone down, you want to play well and it just puts a little bit more pressure on you,” Schwartzel admitted.

In terms of the Gary Player Country Club course, Schwartzel agreed with popular opinion among the rest of the field that if you sprayed it off the tee, the narrow fairways and thick rough would be the death knell for your chances.

But he also had a word of warning about the bunkers.

“The course is good, but I think it is probably the worst I have seen the bunkers though. I think the bunkers are really inconsistent and you will see a few guys get lucky and a few guys get plugged lies. But other than that, the course is in good shape and the greens are always good.

“The fairways are a bit narrower, the rough is a bit longer and so I think the winning score will be a little higher than in the past,” Schwartzel said.

A South African has not won the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in five years, but the two firm home favourites, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, both downplayed their chances at the Gary Player Country Club on Wednesday.

Schwartzel is the more familiar with the great course at Sun City and will be making his fourth appearance when the $5-million tournament tees off on Thursday.

But the 28-year-old’s form disappeared after a freak rib muscle tear in June and is only just showing signs of reappearing, leaving Schwartzel unsure of his chances.

Oosthuizen, meanwhile, began the year with victory in the African Open and added the Malaysian Open crown in April, but has failed to win since then, even a run of five successive top-10 finishes in recent weeks not entirely cheering him up.

The 30-year-old has also had to weather the disappointment of two playoff losses this year, including the heartbreak of just missing out on the Masters title won by Bubba Watson at Augusta.

Ranked number seven in the world, Oosthuizen is one of the hottest golfers on the planet right now, but he was surprisingly downbeat about his chances at Sun City.

“It’s been frustrating because I feel I’ve been playing better than my finishes. I guess I’m satisfied with the year overall, but disappointed that I lost twice in playoffs. I just haven’t been putting myself in good positions come Sunday.

“I always say I want three wins a season, I’ve got two, so to win here this weekend would end the year on a high,” Oosthuizen said on Wednesday.

Oosthuizen, whose previous appearance in the NGC was a last-place finish in 2010, expects two-time defending champion Lee Westwood to be his biggest obstacle, particularly since the Englishman can call his driver into service on most holes.

“I forgot how narrow the fairways are and how thick the kikuyu is. The rough is really thick all around the fairways and greens, because of the recent rain, so you have to drive straight or you’re going to struggle. The greens are running pure but the rain has made them a bit slow and you just have to adapt to the speed,” Oosthuizen said after his pro-am round on Wednesday.

“So you have to think that Lee Westwood’s name is going to be right up there. He has an amazing record around this course, he’s a world-class player and one of the best ball-strikers in the game.

“He drives the ball so straight and he has great iron play, so he gives himself so many opportunities for birdies. He’s able to take driver on a lot of holes where the rest of us take three-wood, that’s how confident he is with that club,” Oosthuizen said.

Schwartzel, born and raised in Gauteng, said he was actually not entirely comfortable on the 7162-metre Gary Player Country Club course.

“It’s always a fantastic week here and I’ve always loved the golf course, but it’s not really suited to my game. I’m a fader of the ball and you mostly see holes moving left-to-right here with the fairway slopes. So you need to draw the ball here to do well,” Schwartzel said.

The 2011 Masters champion’s main problem this year has been the changes to his swing caused by the rib injury he suffered at the U.S. Open.

“It was a bit of misfortune when I tore my intercostal – I don’t even know how it happened, I basically sat down and could hardly breathe – and it halted my pretty good form up till then.

“I came back two or three weeks early because I wanted to play in the Open, but I created some bad habits in my swing to play around the injury. That led to a lot of inconsistency and frustration.

“But for the last month-and-a-half, I’ve been pain-free and I’m getting the swing back to where it was. But it’s been a long process coming back from that injury and I’m not expecting anything this week. If I have a good week and play the way I know I can, then I’m easily capable of winning. But it’s too early to say what’s going to happen, even though things are definitely turning,” Schwartzel said.

Justin Rose was, like Schwartzel, born in Johannesburg, but the Englishman is now at home in all the great cities of the world having won four titles in America, five in Europe, two in South Africa and one each in Japan and Australia.

With the minimum of fuss, he has risen to number four in the world rankings – the best in the NGC field – and his recent form includes a brilliant 62, the low round of the tournament, in the final round of last weekend’s World Tour Championship in Dubai, where he finished second to world number one Rory McIlroy.

Westwood, Schwartzel and Oosthuizen will all have maximum respect for Rose and his ability to claim the spoils at Sun City, while they will also no doubt see former world number one Martin Kaymer as a threat.

Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts is likely to be a crowd favourite, with the spectators getting to see just how far he does smite the ball, but he will have to marry consistent accuracy to his tremendous power in order to win the title.

There is a third South African in the field in Garth Mulroy, who qualified by virtue of winning the 2011 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, but it is difficult to see the world number 201 having the game to beat the rest of the field which also includes resurgent 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-29-nedbank-golf-challenge-preview-oosthuizen-and-schwartzel-edging-closer-to-form

Louis Oosthuizen is the home favourite to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge teeing off at Sun City on Thursday, but the 30-year-old South African has identified the defending champion Lee Westwood, and in particular his ability to call into service his driver at most holes, as his biggest obstacle to victory.

Oosthuizen is the golfer considered most likely to break the five-year drought in terms of a South African winner, but the world number seven is returning to the Gary Player Country Club after a year’s absence, having finished last in his only previous appearance, in 2010.

“I forgot how narrow the fairways are and how thick the kikuyu is. The rough is really thick all around the fairways and greens, because of the recent rain, so you have to drive straight or you’re going to struggle. The greens are running pure but the rain has made them a bit slow and adapting to the pace of the greens is going to be one of tomorrow’s keys,” Oosthuizen said after his pro-am round on Wednesday.

“So you have to think that Lee Westwood’s name is going to be right up there. He has an amazing record around this course, he’s a world-class player and one of the best ball-strikers in the game.

“He drives the ball so straight and he has great iron play, so he gives himself so many opportunities for birdies. He’s able to take driver on a lot of holes where the rest of us take three-wood, that’s how confident he is with that club,” Oosthuizen said.

Westwood claimed his second successive NGC title last year after weathering a great final-round charge by Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, but the Englishman could be in for an even stiffer challenge this year with both Oosthuizen and Justin Rose coming into the tournament in hot form.

Oosthuizen finished third on the European Tour order of merit and is coming off five successive top-10 finishes, but his description of the year as “frustrating” was a telling sign that the 2010 Open champion is determined to return the famous crystal globe to South Africa.

“It’s been frustrating because I feel I’ve been playing better than my finishes. I guess I’m satisfied with the year overall, but disappointed that I lost twice in playoffs. I always say I want three wins a season, I’ve got two, so to win here this weekend would end the year on a high.

“Plus, growing up, this and the SA Open were the two tournaments you really wanted your name on the trophy. You always remember watching the tournament on TV as a kid and it’s a great event,” Oosthuizen said.

Rose, born in South Africa but based in England since he was five, will also be especially motivated to win, having finished second to Trevor Immelman by just one stroke in 2007.

Charl Schwartzel is another South African favourite, but the 28-year-old seemed to talk down his chances on Wednesday after a year that was badly disrupted by a torn rib muscle in June.

“It’s never nice not playing well and you always go into the tournament with the goal of winning. But it’s been a long process coming back from that injury and I’m not expecting anything this week. If I have a good week and play the way I know I can, then I’m easily capable of winning. But it’s too early to say what’s going to happen, even though things are definitely turning,” Schwartzel said.

While Africa’s Major still has a celebratory, exhibition type feel to it and it is the end-of-year party for corporate South Africa, the rest of the field will also not want to defame their reputations.

Martin Kaymer is a former world number one, Paul Lawrie an ex-major champion who is enjoying a resurgence in his career and Nicolas Colsaerts is a rising star. All of them will be out to impress and will be dangerous outsiders for the $1.25 million first prize.

Draw – 11h10 Louis Oosthuizen (SA) & Francesco Molinari (Italy); 11h22 Garth Mulroy (SA) & Martin Kaymer (Germany); 11h34 Peter Hanson (Sweden) & Charl Schwartzel (SA); 11h46 Carl Pettersson (Sweden) & Bill Haas (USA); 11h58 Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) & Paul Lawrie (Scotland); 12h10 Justin Rose (England) & Lee Westwood (England).

Henrik Stenson answered the nagging doubts eating away at him over whether he would ever win again, in emphatic fashion at Serengeti Golf Estate on Sunday, winning the South African Open by three strokes.

The Swede’s previous victory in South Africa came in 2008 when he soared to a nine-stroke victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City. It ushered in a golden period for Stenson as he moved to fourth in the world rankings and won The Players Championship (often called the fifth major) at Sawgrass in Florida in May 2009.

His ball-striking was superb and it seemed he would become one of the world’s dominant golfers. Instead, his fortunes went the other way and he did not win again until Sunday’s gripping final day on a hot, stormy East Rand afternoon.

“It’s been three-and-a-half years since my last win. That’s so long you begin to think ‘is there ever going to be another one?’ But you need to put a lot in to get decent results out,” Stenson said after his drought-ending victory.

The 36-year-old struggled with a pneumonia virus in 2010 and just poor form in 2011, but he has also heaped more pressure on himself by playing on both sides of the Atlantic in a daunting playing schedule.

But he looked a true champion on Sunday as he sealed victory in the closing stages of the final round.

He and George Coetzee were neck-and-neck on 14-under-par as they made the turn, Stenson having double-bogeyed the par-three ninth after hooking his tee-shot into the water hazard.

But the world number 113 birdied the 10^th to make the perfect start to the back nine and two more birdies, at the 16^th and 17^th holes, were the coup de gráce.

Coetzee had birdied the 11^th to restore parity, but he bogeyed the par-three 15^th after his tee shot went just over the green. He chipped to seven feet but missed his putt for par.

The South African had more problems on the par-five 16^th as his drive faded away to finish a good 50m behind Stenson’s. Coetzee could not go for the green in two over the water and had to lay up, while Stenson’s second was healthily positioned just short of the green to the right, from where he chipped to three feet and made birdie.

Coetzee could only make par and Stenson then birdied the short par-four 17^th, chipping well from the bunker in front of the green, to allow himself a victory parade down the 18^th. Stenson’s one-under-par 71 left him with an overall score of 17-under-par 271, while Coetzee finished on 14-under 274.

“I knew it would not be easy because we had a pretty firm breeze out there and I had a couple of guys on my tail. George started well, then had a couple of bogeys, but I then threw two shots away on the ninth so we were all square at the turn. But I was not panicking, I knew I had to just keep on playing my own game and keep creating chances. It was all very open on the back nine, but I managed to get a grip from 15 to 18,” Stenson said.

“We all have our ups and downs as golfers, I also had a big slump between 2001 and 2003, and the hardest thing is not to get frustrated. Sometimes it’s things outside golf – your health or your family – which make it difficult to get your practise and playing schedule organised because things are pulling you in various directions. But you just have to bounce back and learn from your mistakes,” Stenson said.

Charl Schwartzel had begun the final round 10 shots behind Stenson, but a brilliant front nine of 32, followed by another two birdies at the 11^th and 12^thholes, saw him surge into contention just two shots behind the leaders. But his charge was cut short by bogeys at the 15^th and 16^th holes and Schwartzel had to settle for fifth place on 11-under-par.

Another Swede, Magnus Carlsson, had begun the final day tied with Coetzee three behind Stenson, but he slipped down the leaderboard with a birdie-less 76.

Thomas Aiken and Germany’s Martin Kaymer produced top-class final rounds of 67 to finish in a tie for third on 13-under-par, while defending champion Hennie Otto secured a top-10 place with a magnificent 10-under-par 62, a course record that was bogey-free and included eight birdies and an eagle.

It was a phenomenal comeback from Otto after a 75 in the third round, the fiery South African playing the last 12 holes without a putter after he ditched the offending short stick into the water surrounding the 15^th green, having begun his round on the 10^th. Otto had to putt thereafter with a wedge.

Branden Grace endured a catastrophic weekend, shooting 78-77 to finish second-from-last on eight-over-par, while 2008 champion Richard Sterne shot a 70 on Sunday for a solid top-20 finish.

There was a lot of pressure on the young Coetzee, who has finished in the top 10 on seven occasions this year but is yet to win on the European Tour. Sadly for the 26-year-old, the monkey is still on his back, but Coetzee did not play badly on the final day, shooting a 71.

Stenson’s ball-striking was just too good and the suave Swede had some words of comfort for his vanquished foe.

“I’m sure George is disappointed, but he played well and he will get that win in time. You have to put in a lot of effort to win, keep positioning yourself to win… and then sometimes you win three very quickly,” was Stenson’s verbal hand on Coetzee’s shoulder.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-19-stenson-strikes-it-hot-at-sa-open