South African men’s golfers have struggled to win majors since Ernie Els’ 2012 Open Championship victory, with the shift to LIV Golf in 2022 further hindering top players like Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen from competing in key tournaments. Seen here: (l-r) Charl Schwartzel, Dean Burmester, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace. Picture: LIV Golf
Image: LIV Golf
It’s been 14 years since a South African has won a men’s major, and that’s a crying shame for a nation which routinely produces world-class players almost every year.
Since Ernie Els was a surprise winner at the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s, which I attended, there have been some close calls but no more majors to add to the SA mantle.
With the advent of LIV Golf in 2022, it effectively took out SA’s top four from competing on the US PGA and DP World Tour, which is almost a prerequisite before winning a major.
Those four are Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, and Dean Burmester.
In fact, Schwartzel was the previous SA major winner before Els, when the man from Vereeniging won the Masters in 2011.
His good mate Oosthuizen had triumphed in emphatic fashion by seven shots in the Open Championship in 2010.
When they made their major breakthroughs, Schwartzel was 26 and Oosthuizen was 27, but even many years later, they could have still been a force in majors when they decided to make the switch to the breakaway Saudi-funded tour.
In fact, in 2021, Oosthuizen had top three finishes in three of the four majors. He certainly wasn’t finished competing. Since 2023, his best finish is 23rd in the four majors he’s entered since.
Rory McIlroy’s former agent, Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler, slammed the decision of the South Africans who made the switch to LIV.
“It goes back to when you get paid the money they were paid and then you get 20 rand to the pound. It’s an awful lot of money and they've set themselves up for ever. Guys like Louis and Charl, they've missed four years of their prime golfing lives to LIV,” Chandler told IOL via BOYLE Sports, who offer the latest golf odds.
“So when they are back amongst everybody else, they're actually nothing like when they left. Louis won The Open, Charl was a decent player, Branden Grace was a decent player. They are now slightly over the hill when they come back. And they've had it easy at the end of the day.”
“I would say it affects them heading into the majors. I think it's pretty easy to see that the guys on LIV, apart from the odd one, aren't as sharp as the guys that aren't on LIV in the majors. There's always going to be exceptions to the rule but as a whole, they're not as sharp as the other guys.”
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