AUGUSTA, Georgia – Charl Schwartzel saw this coming. Never mind the six consecutive missed cuts on the PGA Tour heading into this week. Schwartzel took a fortnight off, watched old footage of the Masters and felt his confidence begin to swell. The 2011 Masters champion now finds himself with a share of the clubhouse lead with overnight leader Sungjae Im (74) at 3-under 141 after a second-round 69.
“The bad results didn’t really determine how I felt coming in here,” said a reserved Schwartzel. “I actually took two weeks off, and as the two weeks went by, my confidence grew in belief that I could win this tournament because I was starting to hit it very good and just looked at old footages, and it’s still there.”
Schwartzel, 37, made tournament history 11 years ago when he became the first player to win the Masters by closing his round on Sunday with four consecutive birdies. The young South African had to fend off a host of contenders to do it, too. Eight different players held a share of the lead on the back nine that Sunday, including five at one time. His triumph came exactly 50 years after fellow South African Gary Player became the first international player to win at Augusta.
