Schwartzel Wins in a Romp


Charl Schwartzel continued his dominating run in the final two weeks of the 2012 season. The 2011 Masters' champion closed with a 3-under 69 at Leopard Creek Country Club in Malelane, South Africa, to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship by 12 shots.

The victory came after the South African won last week's Thailand Open by 11. Schwartzel's margin in the Alfred Dunhill Championship was huge but not record-breaking. Yet it was close. Only Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, who won the 2000 U.S. Open and 2005 Asian Open by 15 and 13 strokes, respectively, have won by such a wide margin in an event sanctioned by the European Tour.

Schwartzel, who began the day with a 10-shot lead over his closest pursuer, finished at 24-under 264. Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg (70) ended up a distant second at 276 after first-round leader Gregory Bourdy of France double-bogeyed the final hole. Bourdy slipped into a share of third at 277 with three others.

Schwartzel owed some of his motivation this week to playing in his home country at a course he enjoys. "It's always been a special place for me," the 28-year-old said. "This is where I can almost say my career started and it's always stayed close to my heart. It's nice to have continued my form from last week. 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!"

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