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AFR ICA OUT OF
Charl Schwartzel
Nicklaus At 70, Recalled Fondly ( 4)
Charl Schwartzel, until very recently, was most-known to the world’s
golf media as the South African
whose first name looked more like a
typographical error. Wasn’t there an
“e” and an “s” missing on the end?
Today Schwartzel is racing to
Dubai. He has won two weeks in a
row in his home continent of Africa
in events co-sanctioned by the European Tour. And when he shows up in
Abu Dhabi next week he will arrive as
the hottest player on the planet.
And as if that weren’t enough to
put a smile on the face of George
O’Grady, the James Bond lookalike
who runs the pro game in Europe,
check this out: The three winners of
his four 2010 events to date are 26
years old (Richie Ramsay), 23 years
old (Pablo Martin) and 25 years old
(Schwartzel), respectively.
Sergio is 30 and almost passe now.
The best of the Euro kids, Rory Mc-Ilroy, will be waiting for Schwartzel
next week in the United Arab Emirates. And to be sure, if Schwartzel
is to become the first player to win
three straight European Tour events
since Severiano Ballesteros in 1986,
he will have to beat a significantly
stronger field.
By the way, 1986 was the same year
Jack Nicklaus, who turns 70 Thursday,
won the Masters at age 46 and one
year after the film, “Out Of Africa”
won the Oscar for best picture.
