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Charl Schwartzel (Getty Images) |
Lynn Butler – Sport24
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel says playing at Augusta National this November will be an experience he will probably never forget.
On 10 April 2011, Schwartzel became the third and most recent South African to don the green jacket as he pulled off a memorable two-stroke victory.
This year’s Masters will be played outside of April for the first time in the event’s history, which began in 1934.
It was revealed last month that the organisers have identified 12-15 November as their intended dates to host this year’s tournament following the outbreak of Covid-19.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought a halt to the golf calendar with multiple tournaments either cancelled or postponed.
Schwartzel, who is currently physical distancing in Florida, spoke to Sport24 and discussed playing Augusta National in November.
“We don’t know how it’s going to be like. From the guys who have played there in November socially, the weather can be really cold,” said Schwartzel.
“My experience with Augusta with it being cold is that it dramatically affects the distance the ball goes.
“So I’m expecting it to play quite long and I don’t think there’s going to be the nice beautiful flowers… it’s going to be a very different look to what we used to,” he said.
Schwartzel, who is currently 205th in the world golf rankings, believes that this year’s change of date will be a once-off.
“It’s going to be pretty cool to experience, I doubt this will happen anytime soon again where we play Augusta in November. It’ll be one of those one-off things to experience and something we won’t forget.”
The PGA Tour is expected to resume next month with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club from 11-14 June.
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