Charl Schwartzel won last year’s Masters with an unprecedented four birdies on the final four holes.
That putting stroke and confidence was honed in the weeks before the tournament, he said Tuesday. He said he would find the fastest spot on the greens at whatever tournament he was competing in and practice a shorter putting stroke in anticipation of Augusta National’s slick greens.
“You play week in and week out on fast greens, but not nearly as fast as you get at Augusta,” he said. “The biggest adjustment is to learn to make a little stroke and be consistent with it. I think that’s what helped me.”
Schwartzel grew comfortable enough with that shorter stroke to shoot a 66 on Sunday, including that historic finish, to win by two strokes. He will defend his title when the Masters tees off April 5.
A relative novice to Augusta’s greens with just one previous Masters on his card, Schwartzel said he sought the advice of some of the best putters in the world to craft his plan. He needed just 107 putts to navigate the 72 holes. His 1.49 putts-per-green average was the second-best for the tournament, trailing only Luke Donald’s 1.42 average.
“I love the golf course, the way it suited my eye,” he said. “But the greens were the things that caught me. I think Augusta, if you know the greens well, you can actually use them to your benefit more than what it should be a disadvantage or that you should be scared of them. But you really need to know them like the back of your hand.”
Schwartzel said he didn’t realize that he was on such a roll on the back nine, which was turning back challenger after challenger Sunday, including Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Donald. Eight different players held at least share of the lead at some point.
“It never even crossed my mind when I finished that I just made four birdies,” Schwartzel said. “I was just happy that I had won my first major championship. Obviously, it became quite a thing. I realized nobody ever had done it. People started talking about it quite a bit. I don’t know.”
Schwartzel said he carried the green jacket with him everywhere after his victory. As the champion, he gets to plan the traditional Tuesday dinner. Like his surprising finish, he hopes to do something that’s never-been-done before: a barbecue.
When he told the members of Augusta National his plan, he said their response was “We’ll come back to you on that.”
“I think it took them quite by surprise, maybe expecting something a little more different or more the way they always do it,” he said. “I just find sometimes that I don’t enjoy these functions that are formal. You sit down, the food comes. I like it to be fun and relaxed, something that everyone will eat.
“Basically every night I cook meat on the fire.’ Yeah,’ I thought ‘that’s something to do.’”
He said the menu will include lamb chops, fillet steaks and a sausage called “boerewors” that’s well-known in his native South Africa.
“I’ve had a fantastic year being the Masters champion,” he said. “Everywhere you go you get treated so well. It’s just been an awesome year so far. I’m really looking forward to coming back and trying to defend my title.”
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