Golf Star Charl Schwartzel is the real deal!
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Tags :
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Golf, Nike, Golfnews,JustGolf
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Charl Schwartzel’s dream run at the
World Golf Championships-CA Championship over the weekend alerted the
normally insular US television commentators to something South African
fans have known for a while.
As he tried to chase down a
rejuvenated Ernie Els in one of the Big Easy’s best performances in
years, it was clear that, win or lose, the 25-year-old Schwartzel was
laying down a marker.
And there was a sense that it would be
sooner rather than later that he will be calling in the marker with a
third victory for the year.
Even more than that, it seems certain
that he will do well in one of the majors this year and herald the
arrival of a new generation of South African golfers on the world stage.
So
Charl Schwartzel a Nike tour Player is now officially one of the best players in the world
under the age of 30.
He’s in very good company, and, he’s ranked
number seven on the Official World Golf Rankings top 10 players in that
category – ahead of Dustin Johnson, Alviro Quiros and Nick Watney.
Ahead
of him are young players who have gripped the imagination of a new
generation of golf fans around the world.
Topping the list is
Germany’s Martin Kaymer, who is at number seven in the world this week,
and, together with Schwartzel, he is the most successful player on the
list.
Like Schwartzel, he has won five times on the European
Tour, but he also seems to be largely unnoticed by US television
commentators despite reaching number six in the world at one stage.
Of
the other players above Schwartzel on the list, only Ross Fisher does
not have the kind of profile his play would indicate he deserves: A
three-time winner on the European Tour, he is nonetheless recognisable
in the US as a result of his fifth place finish in The Open Championship
at Turnberry last year, after which he raced off to be at the birth of
his first child.
Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas, Hunter Mahan and
Anthony Kim are all certified hot shots, and they attract the attention
of fans for varying reasons.
Mahan seems to look like the future
of golf to people who want the game to continue to be a conveyor belt of
American champions.
But McIlroy, Villegas and Kim all break the
mould.
Kim brings something to the game that people seem to be
divided over: an element of risk. Not since the arrival of John Daly has
someone looked likely to attract a group of fans who fall outside the
parameters likely to be acceptable to clubs like Augusta National.
McIlroy
looks cuddly and is clearly number one material. He needs to add to his
single European Tour win soon, though.
Villegas is clearly the
real deal: His recent win in the Honda Championship was impressive, and
he brings a certain something to the aesthetic side of the game which is
sure to draw fans from outside the current base – whether that
something is boy-band good looks, a great six-pack or amazing
flexibility is not really relevant, as he can play.
Schwartzel
has all of that, even if it’s latent at this point. He’ll be off the
wed-able list later this year, which may (or may not) spoil things, but
he has an attractive sense of risk as evidenced by his love of flying
and his penchant for spending recreational time in the desert or in the
bush.
For now, though, being ranked 27 in the world just weeks
away from the first major of the year is evidence enough that he belongs
on a list of the top 10 players in the world under the age of 30.
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