Our Paul Higham talks exclusively to Masters champion Charl Schwartzel about his best year on Tour.
Masters champion talks to skysports.com about Augusta, FedEx and the future
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel thrives on the big time, on the big pressure putts, when things get tough... which is probably why he was able to emerge from a pulsating day at Augusta with the green jacket - which he insists he never leaves home without!
It's been an incredible year for the softly-spoken South African, who made the most of Rory McIlroy's meltdown to claim his first major at the Masters, but being a sporting type of guy he says nobody was happier than he was to see his stablemate then blow the field away to claim the US Open at Congressional.
I managed to get some time with Schwartzel at a Nike event up at the Fairmont St Andrews hotel, just up the coast overlooking the home of golf, and a venue such as this was a perfect place for him to reflect on his major breakthrough.
"It takes time to sink in," Schwartzel told
skysports.com about his Masters win as he helped publicise Nike's new 20XI ball. "You see video clips of yourself winning, I've watched it a few times actually and you know it's such a cool feeling.
"A win like that will give you so much confidence and make you proud of what you've done, and no-one can ever take it away from you - apart from the jacket, which is a pity!
Jacket
"Everywhere I go I take the jacket, I never leave it behind, I hate to leave it. I mean, if I only get to keep it for a year why would I leave it at home while I go away for two months? So I take it with me everywhere."
Graeme McDowell has spoken of being distracted by his US Open win, with too much talk about that moment in the past than his future, and Schwartzel is determined not to be distracted as he feels he can be a multiple major winner.
"I'm pretty good at carrying on," he added. "I've watched a lot of guys and see some of the traps they've fallen into and I'm making sure that I keep my time around golf about my golf - because that's what got me to where I am.
"If you start giving away too much of your time to everyone who wants a piece of you then it can start to get too much, but I just manage my time. I'm fine with it all, and I'll happily win another one and deal with it all again and have the same problems!
"Because I don't want to win just one of these things, I fully believe I'm more than capable and a good enough player to win multiple majors."
And could he handle the pressure of being involved in the shake-up for another major? It seems so...
"I like playing under that sort of environment, the bigger tournament the better for me. I like it when it gets tough, I think I know how to grind it out, how to keep myself in there. And there's a lot of times in the majors where that happens - you get yourself into contention, the pressure is huge, so it's the guy who can grind it out and stay there because most of the guys most of the time sort of just fall away.
"I give a lot of my practising to thinking about these sort of things, so that when I do get into that situation I replay the same thoughts and feelings that I had during practice. You know that's the only thing you can do, you can't control what happens after that so as long as you can give it your best right there, putting or whatever it is, then your chances of succeeding are pretty good."
Managing a schedule is even more crucial for a truly global golfer such as Schwartzel, but he will not be taking too many breaks to focus on majors, as he likes to put in maximum effort into every event.
"I think it's a good idea to focus on the majors, but what you're really trying to do is you're trying to peak at the majors so whatever way works for you - I always make sure I play a bit going into it, I'm better after a few rounds.
Major focus
"But obviously the majors are the tournaments you want to win in golf, that's what it's all about. You've just got to find your way of playing your best when it comes to that, but you shouldn't just write other tournaments off to be fair, if you enter a tournament you're there to win, no other reason, not to prepare for something, you're there to win the tournament - you just have to find the balance."
Schwartzel has strong views on the FedEx Cup play-offs in America, where Bill Haas scooped an $11.5m jackpot by winning the Tour Championship despite largely mixed results throughout the campaign.
"Obviously I'm very happy for Bill Haas, I know him well he's a fantastic guy and great player. But to be fair a guy like Luke Donald - I mean that guy's played well, how many top tens has he had? It's something stupid like 13 or something like that and I think probably half of those were top fives.
"And you know ok, sure maybe you've got to win one, maybe you can say 'but he should have won one but he hasn't', but the consistency, that's what golf is about, being there every single week.
"And he hasn't finished eighth, ninth, he's finished third, second, fourth, third and I think he's leading the money list by so far and yet he doesn't win that big prize.
"I think something that counts so much should reward the guy that's played the best that year, and that's been Luke Donald. Bill's played good, but there were 24 guys better than him, but he won the right tournament at the right time and got the prize."
Charl Schwartzel was speaking at a Nike media day at St Andrews to publicise the upcoming launch of the new 20XI golf ball.
