Charl Schwartzel will be chasing a hat-trick of titles at the Joburg Open starting at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Thursday, and the Masters champion gave an ominous warning to the rest of the field when he said how much he liked the course.

“Last year, and even the year before that, I’ve played some really good golf here. I played here many times before as an amateur and a junior and I like it. A lot of shots just suit my eye and the greens are lovely.

“It’s a great place for me to start the year because I know the course so well. It’s not every day you play in a European Tour event and can stay at home!” Schwartzel said on Wednesday.

While the altitude of over 1 600 metres is not good on the lungs, Schwartzel said it suited his game plan for a course where his last eight rounds have been under 70 and 42-under-par overall.

“It’s one of the tougher courses in Johannesburg because of its length. And today it was playing the longest I’ve seen it for a while. But I feel good when the scoring is not so good, when guys don’t run away with the course.

“It’s also long because of all the rain and the rough is pretty dense too. You can get lucky, but you can’t afford too many loose shots. I hit a lot of three-woods around here, just to get the ball in play and 200 metres for your second shot at altitude is not much, so I’m not scared to back off off the tee.

“The main thing is not to make any stupid mistakes, the emphasis is on getting the ball in play,” Schwartzel said.

If the South African does win the Joburg Open for the third straight time, he will become just the sixth golfer to pull off a hat-trick of wins in a European Tour event after Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie, Ernie Els and Tiger Woods.

“It would be my first three-in-a-row and I’m up for the challenge. It’s something to play for, making it a hat-trick,” Schwartzel said.

Rich Beem will be flying the flag for the United States in this week’s Joburg Open as the 2002 PGA champion makes a surprise appearance on the European Tour.

The 41-year-old has decided to throw in his lot with the European Tour this year, more out of necessity than anything else.

He underwent back surgery in 2010 and, although a medical exemption covered most of that year, he failed to keep his US PGA Tour card in 2011, the year his exemption for winning the 2002 major at Hazeltine ran out.

Fortunately, the European Tour’s 10-year exemption for winning a major starts the year following the triumph, so Beem is exempt for 2012 and will be taking full advantage. By the end of the year, he will have covered Africa, Asia and most of Europe.

“I’m here because my European Tour exemption runs through this year for winning the 2002 PGA. In 2010, I had back surgery and was out for most of the year and needed a medical exemption.

“In 2011, I played 20 events, but didn’t qualify automatically for my card and then made the finals at Q-School, but couldn’t finish the job. So the European card is the best thing for me.

“I imagine I’ll play May, June and July in continental Europe and play the minimum number of tournaments to qualify for my card. The European Tour is so different to the US, I’m finding it hard to get organised, I’m trying to figure out the travel, connect the dots.

“You can’t even compare it to the US, where you just hop in your courtesy cars and everyone goes in 50 different directions. On this tour, everyone stays together, stays in the same hotels, eats meals together.

“But I’m looking forward to it and I’m not afraid of travelling – I spent three-and-a-half years in both Panama and Berlin, Germany, in my younger years,” the genial Beem said at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Course on Wednesday.

And the Texan with the broad smile has thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of South Africa.

WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE

“You have to turn it into an adventure and have some fun. I’ve already had an extraordinary time here and met some extraordinary people. It’s been one of my best experiences.

“We arrived last Thursday evening and on Saturday we were able to have a private tour of the Apartheid Museum in Soweto and we spent two-and-a-half hours there, we could have spent all day. It was incredible what we were able to see and then we did the tour of Soweto and ate at the Beverley Hills!

“We saw the church and park where the 1976 riots happened and we got the Full Monty basically,” the married father of two said.

Apart from majors and World Golf Championship (WGC) tournaments, Beem is playing in just his fourth European Tour event and is confident he can do well in Johannesburg.

“It takes a lot of luck to win, but I certainly have the game to compete and I expect to play well. My body doesn’t like the travelling as much as it used to, but I want to play golf, which is why I came here because I knew I would play. I had the opportunity to try and qualify in Hawaii for the Sony Open, but that’s a rat-race for four spots,” Beem said.

The former mobile phone and car stereo salesman said the East Course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington is playing particularly tough.

“The East Course definitely has some teeth, it’s a bear. The ball is not rolling anywhere and it’s catching mud. The West Course is certainly a lot easier,” Beem said.

This may be a make-or-break year for Beem, who hasn’t won since holding off Tiger Woods to win the 2002 PGA Championship.

“I haven’t really thought that negatively! In some ways it may be make-or-break, but I haven’t made any other plans!”

Lee Westwood’s road to victory was not entirely smooth, but the defending champion was still a far more convincing winner of the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Sunday than the margin of two shots suggested.

Westwood went into the final round with a seven-shot lead after his extraordinary course-record 62 on Saturday and did enough on the front nine to deter his would-be challengers. In fact, the Englishman was in such control he could afford to bogey the 17th and 18th holes and not be concerned.

“I tried to break it up into fairways and greens and I was two-under after the front nine. Graeme McDowell got within four of me and Robert Karlsson made a few putts coming in, but I played conservatively.

“Sometimes I aimed 25/30 feet wide of the flags and I wasn’t concerned about the odd bogey because I felt the course was playing quite tough,” Westwood said after his one-over-par 73.

The likes of McDowell, Jason Dufner and Karlsson criscrossed Westwood’s peripheral vision at times, but none of them could produce the inspired round needed to haul in the world number three.

McDowell double-bogeyed 15 and bogeyed 16 to shoot a 70 and slip back into a tie for third on 11-under with Dufner.

The American had picked up four shots on the first five holes of the back nine to move to within four shots of Westwood, but he was in the rough off the 15th tee and then in serious trouble down the bank right of the green. He left with a double-bogey and his challenge ended as he faded to a 69.

Karlsson, who teed off with Westwood in the final two-ball, made a stuttering start with a bogey on the first hole. Although he birdied the second, fourth and fifth holes, he bogeyed the eighth and birdied the ninth. So the lanky Swede still trailed the Westwood juggernaut by seven strokes at the turn and he just could not pick up any momentum, also playing the back nine in two-under to finish alone in second place on 13-under.

Riding the wave of his 62 in the third round, Westwood was seldom in any serious trouble and, in fact, had several birdie putts shave the hole, especially on the front nine. Although it was not quite a surge to victory, it was impressive enough.

The Sun City marketers can use the same posters for next year’s tournament as Westwood became just the sixth golfer to defend his title at the Gary Player Country Club after Seve Ballesteros (1984), David Frost (1990), Nick Price (1998), Ernie Els (2000) and Jim Furyk (2006).

The Age of Westwood may have begun at Sun City.

Much like Els dominated around the turn of the century, Price in the 1990s and Frost before that, the 38-year-old looks in a different class around this course, the benefits of his brilliance off the tees being so clear.

Could he become the first golfer to win a hat-trick of titles?

“Obviously I’m coming back next year then,” Westwood said when the potential landmark was pointed out to him.

“It’s a great tournament to win, you only have to look at the names on the trophy and on the walk to the ninth green to know that. It’s a place I’ve always played well at, it sets up like a major championship course.”

Westwood looked like a major champion this weekend, particularly in the third round.

Defending champion Lee Westwood held off the rest of the field to win the Sun City Challenge by two strokes at the Gary Player Country Club on Sunday.

Westwood began the final day with a seven-shot lead after the course-record 62 he fired in the third round, but the Briton did not have the same sharpness to his game on Sunday. The rest of the field could not capitalise, however, with second-placed Robert Karlsson’s 68 being the best score of the fourth round, and Westwood could afford to bogey the last two holes for a win that was more convincing then the scoreline suggests.

Westwood’s final-round 73 saw him finish on 15-under-par 273 for the tournament, earning the world number three the winner’s cheque of $1.25 million in the 12-man invitational event.

The Englishman went through the front nine in two-under-par with birdies at the par-four sixth and par-five ninth holes, Westwood reaching the turn with a five-stroke lead.

He told a news conference afterwards that the old maxim of hitting fairways and greens had been his focus. “I tried to break it up into fairways and greens and I was two-under after the front nine. Graeme McDowell got within four of me and Robert Karlsson made a few putts coming in, but I played conservatively.

“Sometimes I aimed 25/30 feet wide of the flags and I wasn’t concerned about the odd bogey because I felt the course was playing quite tough,” Westwood said after his round. McDowell went to four-under-par for his round with a birdie at the par-five 10th, but his hopes took a dive with a double-bogey at the par-four 15th when his approach to the green went way down a bank. His first chip only went halfway back up the bank and his second chip was flying over the green when it hit the flag and rebounded 25 feet from the hole. Karlsson’s 68 was a steady round, but he struggled to develop the momentum necessary to challenge Westwood, while American Jason Dufner shot a 69 and was just four shots behind the leader when he reached the 15th tee. But he paid the price for putting his drive in the thick African bush, his second shot catching a flyer and finishing well right of the green, leading to a double-bogey.

Dufner finished with a 69 to claim third place on 11-under alongside McDowell.

South Korea’s Kyung-Tae Kim shot his fourth successive 70 to complete an impressive first visit to South Africa in fifth place on eight-under-par. South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel finished sixth on six-under.

Westwood is the sixth golfer to defend his title at Sun City, following in the footsteps of Seve Ballesteros (1984), David Frost (1990), Nick Price (1998), Ernie Els (2000) and Jim Furyk (2006).

The 38-year-old admitted he felt more comfortable at the Gary Player Country Club than on most courses.

“It’s a place I’ve always played well and it’s a great tournament to win – you’ve only got to look at the names on the trophy and on the walk to the ninth green to see that.

“It’s set up like a major championship course, you have to be real accurate off the tee and, if your distance-control is good, you can set up lots of birdies,” Westwood said.

No one has won three Sun City Challenge titles in a row, and Westwood said “obviously I’m coming back then next year” when told about the potential landmark.

The former world number one now goes on to the Dubai World Championship where he has finished first and third in the last two years. “There’s nothing like winning to give you confidence and I’d like to keep that momentum going. I’ve played well on that course too,” Westwood warned.