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MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2011

Charl Schwartzel

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA

LARRY PUGH: It's my pleasure to welcome Charl Schwartzel. As you know this is his second Masters appearance, winner much the 2010 South African Open. Three top finishes in 2010 and finished his first round yesterday with a 69, had another good round today.
Charl, perhaps you would describe a bit of your round today, and then we'll open up for questions.
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, thank you very much. This morning we were out so early. I thought the course played really long. There's lots of dew on the fairways and the greens are firm still pretty wet and slippery.
This morning was pretty tough I thought. I didn't particularly hit the ball as good as I did yesterday but I thought I putted a little bit better. All in all, I would take 71 and run.

Q. Can you run us through your birdies and bogeys?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, I bogeyed the 4th. I thought that was probably the par 3 that played the easiest. They moved the tees up for us, and put the flag in the front left there so you could use that back slope. But short-sided myself in the bunker on the right. There's no chance from there, so I just hit it from the back of the green and 2-putted.
Birdied No. 8. I hit 5-wood to the front edge of the green and chipped it to maybe a foot. Nearly made it.
Then I made a very good birdie on 10. 10 played long. I hit 4-iron into 10 to about 15 feet and made a really good putt.
12 caught me out today again. Yesterday I was short and today I went long, back bunker, just no chance. I had to play to the left side of the green on 12 and 2-putted for a bogey.
Hit a very good shot into 13. I hit 3-wood around the corner. I hit 4-iron to maybe 20 feet. That was a very good shot. Made birdie. And came in with all pars.

Q. The approach putt on 18?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: That's actually thanks to Ernie. I played with Ernie in the practice round and he chipped from the left side of the green, which looked to be a very good little chip, a chip-and-run. And he went at the hole, and it went down and it actually went off the green.
I think if I don't play with him, I probably would have putted it at the hole and tried to let it just trickle down. Yeah, I just decided that the risk is too high, after witnessing what Ernie did in the practice round, I just went to the left and figured the longest I'm going to have is six feet if I hit a decent putt up there.
Wasn't particularly wanting to finish with another 3-putt like I did yesterday. Happy with that 2-putt.

Q. So a better round than yesterday overall or not as good?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I mean, yesterday, I played well. Yesterday I thought I hit the ball really good. I mean, 69 was the worst I was going to shoot yesterday. I played really solid.
Today, a couple loose tee shots, but it was that sort of round where I could have shot 74 today, but pulled a 71 out of it. Those ones almost sometimes feel better. Kept myself in it.

Q. How much break did you play on the lag putt on 18, left of the hole?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I mean, that must have been almost eight to ten meters. The hole was almost there, in front of you, and I went this way. I just hit it to the edge of the bunker and the slope, and brings it break down. It almost broke the same length to where I hit it too. It's difficult to say how long.

Q. Did you stay down in South Florida at Old Palm for the last bit and prepare down there with Rory and Louis and all those guys, or who all was in your little playing pod?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, Rory has been spending a lot of time there, and myself and Louis. We base ourselves out of there.
We had a week off after Doral that I spent the whole week there. But I played Bay Hill and Houston, but I think Rory went there afterwards and spent a couple of weeks before we came here. But the facilities are really good there.

Q. Do you mind being at sort of the top of the South African contingent and does that put extra pressure on you?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Not really. You have a lot of guys up there, you're not really looking at your fellow players or South Africans.
For me, I'm trying to get myself in position to win. I've got to beat all of them if I want to win the Tournament. I saw Trevor is doing well. I don't know what he's done, but yeah, he's still playing well.
You know, it's my time (smiling) if I play well.

Q. Can you compare the difficulty of the hole locations today to yesterday?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: There was a couple real sucker flags out there.

Q. Which ones?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No. 6, I thought if I go at it and you just get it slightly wrong over the back of the green, you're going to putt it 40 feet; that would be a good putt.
The next hole, 7, again, you can't go at the flag. You have to hit it to the left. And then you had flags like 17 where I thought if you hit the fairway, that's a pretty decent birdie chance.
Even 18, if you hit it in the fairway; 18, if you get your second shot right, it always feeds to the hole there.
50/50, there were a couple that you have to be really careful of.

Q. A lot of guys talk about how many times they play this course and still don't feel like they have seen all of it. I guess you're probably just kind of walking along on eggshells out there and being super careful to some degree and keeping your fingers crossed; this is only your second time here?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: It's definitely one of those courses where you'll keep learning every year you come back. I mean, it's not a course you're going to master after a couple rounds.
I've been fortunate enough to come out here before the tournament weeks with Ernie and come and play a few rounds. You get to see a lot. You can spend a bit of time, stand back and look at things a bit more.
So I've had a fair amount of rounds around here, and a lot of advice. I mean, I had advice last year from Jack Nicklaus. I mean, he took me through every single hole the way he used to play it when he played. You can't get much better advice than that.

Q. Where did that happen?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: That actually happened at Ernie's --

Q. He had a benefit?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: We were having lunch, I don't know how it started -- we started talking about hunting and he took me through the way he played 18 holes at Augusta.

Q. Did you take notes?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I tried to. I was in such awe. Luckily Mr. Johan Rupert was sitting there and he also remembered what he was saying. Like I say, you can't get better advice than that.
So I've had lots of advice from people, but you have to experience it for yourself, and that will take a couple of years.

Q. When you are actually playing, do you think what Mr. Nicklaus says? Do you think, this is the way he said to play here?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, you do, a lot of times -- this course changes so much. He just told me that some flags we used to go for and just ones he never went for and some lines he used to hit it on.
But conditions also changes those sort of things. You know, 12, he said he never went outside of the bunkers. Always aim it at the bunkers and if it's long, you're never going into the bush so, that was his line. That was a particular hole that always sticks with me that that is always my line.

Q. So can you understand why this course is so hard for younger golfers to win, as opposed to other ones?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Oh, yes, definitely. You need lots of experience out here to win on this golf course. You've got to play so different to others; the way this golf course plays, you need lots of patience. And sometimes you have to accept that a bogey is a good score, if you hit it in the wrong place. If you try and be a hero, you're going to be no hero; you're going to make big numbers.
So treat it with respect.

Q. Looking at the numbers that have been put up so far the first two days, is there a place where you think if the weather remains the same, where these scores are going to end up?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: If the weather stays the same, the scoring is out there. We'll go into -- I don't know. It's tough to call numbers. You'll get to 14-, 15-under I would think would be pretty fair.
But you never know. First major of the year, it is the Masters; anything can happen.

Q. In your years here, have you yet to try a pimento cheese sandwich?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, I haven't.

Q. Do you know of the pimento cheese sandwiches?
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: No, I don't.

Q. It's a tradition here.
CHARL SCHWARTZEL: (Laughing).
LARRY PUGH: Thank you very much.

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