South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel will be hoping to add to his Major championship tally when he returns to Augusta National in April.
The 33-year-old from Johannesburg captured the coveted Green Jacket in 2011, aged just 26, after carding a final round 66 to beat Adam Scott and Jason Day by two shots.
Although his Masters’ record is otherwise unspectacular, he did finish third behind Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose last year, shooting a 68 on the final day to move up the leaderboard and within three shots of the European pair.
The man from Johannesburg was unable to score on the European or PGA Tour in the 2017 campaign, so he will be hoping to improve on his return this season. His last victory was in the 2016 Valspar Championship where he needed a playoff to see off Bill Haas.
The South African will be hoping for a big year in 2018, as he is now down to 44th in the official world rankings, and in danger of dropping out of the all-important top 50 unless he finds his winning touch again.
Schwartzel is 60/1 in the golf betting for the Masters, where a return to a course where he has good memories could help him prevail in what would be his ninth appearance at Augusta. Before then, he will be spending a lot of time in the States as he is entered in a number of PGA Tour events ahead of Augusta.
Another South African looking to win his second major is 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen. The 35 year old is set for his tenth appearance in the Masters in April, where he will be hoping to end his wait for success in the tournament. The eight-time PGA Tour winner has a top-five finish in all four Major Championships, but has only been able to get over the line once in the big events.
Oosthuizen’s best performance in the Masters was in 2012, where he finished second after losing in a playoff to Bubba Watson. He held a two-shot lead at one point during the final round, but Watson birdied four of the last six holes to extend the tournament, and then played a miracle shot from the trees at the 10th hole during the playoff to seal the win.
Since that near miss in 2012, Oosthuizen has missed the cut just once at Augusta, and bagged three top-25s. In 2016, he hit a hole in one on the course to join a small club of players who have been able to do that in the tournament.
He will take confidence from the way he finished last season, as he was second in the 2017 US PGA Championship, which was won by Justin Thomas. If successful in April, Oosthuizen will become only the fourth South African to win the Masters. Gary Player was the first to do so in 1961. Trevor Immelman added his name to the honours board in 2008, while the aforementioned Schwartzel guaranteed his return to Augusta for many more years with victory in 2011.
The 82nd US Masters begins on April 5.