Charl looks ready for the Masters

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bruced
March 13, 2012

Charl Schwartzel, unlike too many other first-time major winners, has refused to go away after winning his Green Jacket.

Charl Schwartzel, unlike too many other first-timer major winners, has refused to go away after winning his first Green Jacket with a spectacular three-birdie finish last year.

The slender, South African with the classic swing hasn’t won anything since, but he has spent a good bit of time occupying lofty positions in the upper echelons of the World’s top leaderboards and he has won enough prize money in the past year to ensure he’ll be going back to Augusta next month listed among the World’s elite.

Right now, in fact, he is sitting on a career-high sixth place on the latest World Ranking list after finishing in a tie for fourth behind winner Justin Rose in Sunday’s final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship and elevating himself three places.

Schwartzel, who seems to have a penchant for finishing strongly, fired a final-round four-under 68 for a 13-under-par 275 total, just three strokes behind Rose.

Rose, who seems to have stepped into the Masters picture with a rock-solid, closing 2-under 70 at the Doral Golf Resort’s unforgiving Blue Monster course, climbed 15 rungs on the Rankings list with his Florida win on Sunday, and now finds himself at seventh, just a shot behind Schwartzel in the Rankings.

Rose’s victory, his 4th in the USA, was easily the most important of his career.

His 70 was enough to beat overnight leader and playing partner Bubba Watson of the USA by a stroke and to hold off a late charge from World No 1 Rory McIlroy.

Everything about Rose’s first victory in the elite WGC series, generally considered as second tier events only to the four Majors, suggested that the lanky Englishman, who spent his first eight years in South Africa after being born in Johannesburg, but now lives in Florida with his American wife and US-born children, could pose one of the greatest threats to a successful defence of his title by Schwartzel.

“If you look at the tournaments I’ve won and now a World Golf Championship, the progression is really, really nice. The only thing that really is the next level up is a Major,” Rose after his Victory at Doral.

THE TOP 100 WORLD-RANKED GOLFERS

1 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 9.78
2 Luke Donald (Eng) 9.09
3 Lee Westwood (Eng) 8.12
4 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 5.88
5 Steve Stricker (USA) 5.76
6 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 5.32
7 Justin Rose (Eng) 5.14
8 Webb Simpson (USA) 5.06
9 Jason Day (Aus) 5.05
10 Hunter Mahan (USA) 4.96
11 Adam Scott (Aus) 4.93
12 Dustin Johnson (USA) 4.89
13 Phil Mickelson (USA) 4.81
14 Bill Haas (USA) 4.62
15 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.59
16 Bubba Watson (USA) 4.47
17 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 4.45
18 Tiger Woods (USA) 4.33
19 Nick Watney (USA) 4.31
20 Keegan Bradley (USA) 4.20
21 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 4.06
22 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 4.04
23 K J Choi (Kor) 4.00
24 Peter Hanson (Swe) 3.70
25 Mark Wilson (USA) 3.52
26 Bo Van Pelt (USA) 3.41
27 Paul Casey (Eng) 3.34
28 John Senden (Aus) 3.33
29 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 3.31
30 Ian Poulter (Eng) 3.28
31 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 3.24
32 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 3.23
33 Martin Laird (Sco) 3.22
34 Simon Dyson (Eng) 3.21
35 David Toms (USA) 3.17
36 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 3.14
37 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 3.10
38 Rickie Fowler (USA) 3.10
39 Jason Dufner (USA) 3.07
40 Anders Hansen (Den) 3.05
41 Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 3.04
42 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 3.02
43 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 3.00
44 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 3.00
45 Paul Lawrie (Sco) 2.88
46 Zach Johnson (USA) 2.82
47 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 2.80
48 Ben Crane (USA) 2.79
49 Kyle Stanley (USA) 2.78
50 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 2.70
51 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 2.69
52 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 2.65
53 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 2.64
54 Jonathan Byrd (USA) 2.58
55 Y.E. Yang (Kor) 2.55
56 Robert Rock (Eng) 2.50
57 Darren Clarke (NIrl) 2.49
58 Gary Woodland (USA) 2.43
59 Greg Chalmers (Aus) 2.39
60 Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 2.26
61 Jim Furyk (USA) 2.20
62 Charles Howell III (USA) 2.19
63 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 2.18
64 Robert Allenby (Aus) 2.17
65 Johnson Wagner (USA) 2.17
66 Kevin Na (USA) 2.15
67 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 2.13
68 Ernie Els (Rsa) 2.10
69 George Coetzee (Rsa) 2.09
70 Spencer Levin (USA) 2.08
71 Ryan Moore (USA) 2.04
72 Joost Luiten (Ned) 2.01
73 Chez Reavie (USA) 1.98
74 Sean O’Hair (USA) 1.94
75 Alexander Noren (Swe) 1.91
76 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 1.90
77 Vijay Singh (Fij) 1.90
78 Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 1.89
79 Lucas Glover (USA) 1.85
80 Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 1.84
81 Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 1.82
82 Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 1.81
83 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 1.76
84 Ryan Palmer (USA) 1.76
85 Frazar Harrison (USA) 1.75
86 Branden Grace (Rsa) 1.70
87 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 1.69
88 Jeff Overton (USA) 1.69
89 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 1.68
90 Padraig Harrington (Irl) 1.66
91 Robert Garrigus (USA) 1.65
92 D.A. Points (USA) 1.64
93 David Lynn (Eng) 1.63
94 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 1.63
95 Gregory Havret (Fra) 1.63
96 Michael Hoey (NIrl) 1.58
97 Bryce Molder (USA) 1.56
98 Jamie Donaldson (Wal) 1.56
99 Michael Thompson (USA) 1.55
100 Stephen Gallacher (Sco) 1.53