S.Africa's Schwartzel eyes home glory

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) –

This handout photo from the Asian Tour on December 9, 2012 shows Charl Schwartzel of South Africa celebrating his win on the 18th green on the final day of of the Thailand Golf Championship. Schwartzel returns Thursday determined for a second win at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, riding the wave of his Thai victory.

South African Charl Schwartzel returns determined for a second win at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, riding the wave of his victory at the Thai Golf Championship last week.

The 28-year-old tees off at the Leopard Creek Country Club on the southern border of South Africa’s world-famous Kruger National Park on Thursday having won in 2005 and finished second four times afterwards, including last year.

He’ll start with confidence, having won by 11 strokes in Chonburi last Sunday – the biggest margin of any tournament in the world this year, and the biggest ever in the Asian Tour.

At the end of a 20-month spell without a title since he took the Masters Championship in 2010, the Johannesburg native couldn’t resist returning to a course deemed one of the world’s most beautiful before the end of the year.

“I’m looking forward to this week. I am tired but it’s just such a nice place that I couldn’t pull out,” he said, on top of his game after a year of injuries and poor form.

But he’ll face tough competition in countryman Garth Mulroy, who is determined to defend his title from last year at the second European Tour event of the 2013 season at the par-72 6,665-metre course.

Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa plays a shot out of a bunker on the 18th during the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City on December 2 ,2012. Oosthuizen is another one to watch this week — he finished among the top six in his last four European Tour tournaments.

“It’s probably my favourite course in South Africa. You’ve got to drive the ball well, the greens are always great and I love the bush too. You get to go and look at some animals,” he said.

“I hope it can inspire me again. It’s always nice to go back to a place where you have played well or won in the past,” said the 34-year-old, hopeful of his sixth European Tour title in a natural setting among various antelope species, leopards, hippos and crocodiles.

Schwartzel’s friend Louis Oosthuizen is another one to watch — the South African finished among the top six in his last four European Tour tournaments.

The 30-year-old was runner-up at the Singapore Open in November and hungers for a trophy to add to his 2010 British Open title.

Two-times European Tour champion Robert Rock from England is looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s just a great course,” he said.

“There are a lot of interesting shots that need to be played. It’s a good layout where there are some holes that can be attacked.”

“The fairways are reasonably generous off the tee and because they are soft you’ve got an extra bit of room to play with,” added the 35-year-old.

“The rough isn’t that punishing so it’s a second shot course: you’ve got to really find your route in properly and play the right shapes,” he said, though he found the greens a bit softer than usual.

The Englishman will look out for the par-three seventh, par-four eleventh and par-five 18th as especially difficult holes.

“I always seem to play quite well in South Africa, quite well at the start of the year, so it all adds up to somewhere I expect to do well at.”