Charl Schwartzel labelled his Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude Classic as ‘pathetic’ after he slipped down the leaderboard following a disastrous back nine, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
The 2011 Masters winner made the turn in one over, after cancelling out his first birdie on the day at the third hole with consecutive dropped shots on the fourth and fifth holes.
He got back to level on the 10th with a birdie, but that was the last of the joy on Saturday for the South African. A triple bogey on the 12th meant that he needed something special if he wanted to keep himself in the second or last pairing going into Sunday’s final round.
A birdie at 15 saw him close the gap on the leaders as the chasing pack continued to grow in numbers. He made another bogey on 16 – a par five which had seen just two bogeys all day to that point – when he fluffed his chip from the rough, leaving himself a tricky up and down for par.
His second chip rolled way outside comfortable range and his par putt never curled back in from the right. A par on 17 was followed by a closing bogey as he was forced to sign for a four over par 74, which left him in a share of 13th place and four off Rafa Cabrero Bello’s lead.
That was enough for Schwartzel to tweet: ‘That is what you call a disappointing day or more like pathetic!!’
Compatriot Retief Goosen is one shot better and in T9 after his 70 on Saturday, with the biggest mover coming in the form of Tyrone Van Aswegen, who stormed up the leaderboard with a 65. He is now level with Schwartzel after three day’s work.
Veteran Ernie Els matched Schwartzel’s 74 to sit in T61 with 18 holes left to play at TPC Southwind.
Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images
