One should never underestimate the nastiness of the Fancourt Links and, after two rounds of low scoring, the course bit back on Saturday with Charl Schwartzel’s 68 the best round of the day and one of only 10 that were under-par.

Schwartzel’s outstanding round was enough to get the South African within a shot of the lead and the Masters champion achieved it despite having to get treatment for a sore elbow moments before he teed off.

“I only hit about 10 balls on the range because my elbow was giving me quite a few problems. The physio, Karen, gave me a quick stretch and hurt me a bit, but it was just a tight nerve and I never felt it on the course,” Schwartzel said after his round.

“But today was a lot tougher out there and to shoot five-under was very satisfying. I hit the ball the best I have in a long time, it was just flawless shot after flawless shot.”

Considering the carnage going on all around him, it was a top-class effort by Schwartzel to only make one bogey in his round, on the par-three 11th. In fact, the Masters champion could have posted a still better score were it not for a balky putter.

“All my birdies were basically tap-ins. The ball just wouldn’t go in the hole otherwise. It feels like I’m hitting good putts, I’m not starting them on-line and when I do, I’m just reading them wrong,” Schwartzel complained.

A blustery, gusting wind combined with steady showers to make Fancourt a treacherous place on Saturday.

“The wind and misty rain made it difficult. I was hitting four-irons into the wind where normally I’d be hitting a seven-iron. That’s how short the ball is going, the fairways are also a lot softer, and it’s very difficult hitting long-irons into these greens. You need to be wide awake and commit to whatever shot you’re playing because the margins are not big out there,” Schwartzel said.

Ironically, the one time the 27-year-old did take a chance, it paid off with an eagle-three at the ninth hole.

“I was actually considering laying up short of the ditch because there was a chunk of mud on the left side of the ball. The rule of thumb is that the ball will normally fly the opposite side of the mud and the wind was also off the left. But I was hitting the ball off a steep right-to-left slope, which tends to cause a pull, so I thought it would counter-balance the mud and wind. I had 264 yards and I hit a two-iron to six inches!” Schwartzel said with only a touch of exaggeration.

Schwartzel once again expressed his belief that the local golfers were favoured to win the title because of their course knowledge.

“You can’t come here and play one practice round and think you’re going to conquer the course. You need to know it really well because a lot of the slopes you can use to your benefit, but a lot of them can bite you,” he said.

The fact that Charl Schwartzel shot a six-under-par 67 in Wednesday’s Pro-Am will be daunting news for the rest of the field teeing it up in the Volvo Golf Champions event at the Fancourt Links.

Schwartzel is the highest ranked golfer in the 35-man exclusive field at ninth in the world and the one aspect of his game that was lacking when he missed the cut in last week’s Joburg Open seems to be coming right.

“Last week, I missed the cut but I played decently, I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole! I only missed four greens in 36 holes and my game feels even better now. I just hope the putts go in … I made some nice putts today,” Schwartzel said after the Pro-Am.

The Masters champion is looking forward to a tough challenge at Fancourt – his wonderful ball-striking makes it a given that he’ll be able to get on to the greens in regulation more often than most.

“I like tough courses. Last week and at the Africa Open, it just became a putting contest, whoever putted the best wins. But there’s a lot more to it here.”

Not that the Fancourt greens are a cakewalk either and Schwartzel warned that it would not be easy for the European contingent to succeed if they do not have knowledge of the course.

“The surfaces of the green are so good, there’s not much bounce so if the putt is on-line, it’s in. But the layout of the greens is pretty severe, there are some elephants buried under some of them and you need to avoid those areas.

“You need to know the course very well, especially the greens, before you hit your approach shots. The key is knowing what you’re doing before you hit your approach and you’re not going to get that from one practice round. There are some really big slopes and they can work for you, but they can also quickly bite you,” Schwartzel warned.

Charl Schwartzel was one of the earlier finishers in Friday’s weather-ruined second round of the Joburg Open, but the defending champion now faces an anxious wait to see if he will be exiting the tournament at the halfway stage.

Schwartzel struggled around the East Course for a first-round 72 and then shot a three-under-par 68 on the easier West Course on Friday in what he termed a “mental struggle”.

The Masters champion is therefore on three-under-par overall, in a tie for 56th and on the cut line. But more than half the field still have to complete their second rounds, with a dozen golfers yet to even start when thunderstorms prevented any further play being possible after 1.37pm – ironically exactly the same time as when play was halted on the first day.

Schwartzel does, however, have previous experience of battling around the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club but somehow winning. Last year he was complaining about his swing but still managed to triumph by a whopping four strokes.

“It is a mental struggle when you play like this. It’s pretty easy when things are going your way, but on days like this it becomes a mental battle. I felt I hung in well, I didn’t get down on myself. It would have been easy to lose my temper, but so early in the year, there’s no point. The only way through it is to play, and hopefully I can get into the weekend,” Schwartzel said.

While other major champions have quickly recused themselves from press conferences on days when they have struggled, the ultra-professional Schwartzel was only too happy to front up to the media and explain his struggles. With such impressive character, no wonder he doesn’t buckle under the pressure of being four behind down the closing stretch at Augusta.

The 27-year-old said it was his putting that was proving to be his biggest bugbear.

“It’s always guesswork when you come off a break and competitive golf is always different. But to get straight on to the point, my putting let me down. You’re not going to be doing very well on a course where you should be going for birdies if you have 34 putts. Today I hit 17 greens in regulation but I was just three-under, so it was not my best effort,” Schwartzel said.

The seven-time European Tour winner said it was his putting stroke that was causing him problems.

“In normal competition the greens aren’t so quick as in tournament golf and it feels like I’m hitting everything off-line. I’m not stroking the ball properly and I don’t have that rhythm you get from playing tournament golf week in, week out. And once you hit a few off-line, you start doubting yourself, which makes it worse,” Schwartzel said.

At the moment, Schwartzel is a hefty eight strokes behind leader Robert Rock, but a top-class round like the 61 he shot on Friday last year or the 63 in the first round of the 2010 event will give him a real chance of completing a hat-trick of Joburg Open wins.

“There’s still a long way to go and at least I’m hitting the ball well tee-to-green and giving myself chances. I just need like a 63 to get some momentum going. If I shoot that, I’ll be in with a chance,” Schwartzel said.