Another huge win for Charl Schwartzel at Leopard Creek

 

Sunday 16 December 2012 15:04 EST
Comments
Charl Schwartzel has won the last two Tour titles convincingly
Charl Schwartzel has won the last two Tour titles convincingly (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

South African Charl Schwartzel completed a fantastic finish to 2012 with an astonishing 12-stroke victory on home soil at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The third biggest winning margin in European Tour history was achieved at Leopard Creek a week after last year's US Masters champion won in Thailand by 11 shots.

Only Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, who won the 2000 US Open and 2005 Asian Open by 15 and 13 respectively, have left the best of the rest trailing so far behind in the circuit's 40-year history.

Schwartzel, 10 clear with a round to play, added a three-under-par 69 either side of a two-hour thunderstorm delay to take his eighth Tour title – five of them at events played in South Africa – with a 24-under-par total.

"It's nice to have continued my form from last week," Schwartzel said. "I was saying a month and a half ago it's been a pretty disappointing year. Slowly and surely I started to swing the club a lot better, back to how I did when I won the Masters, and I actually got excited to play again. It started at the SA Open and from there got better and better. It's been a pretty good year now."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in