Charl Schwartzel

Charl is married to Rosalind and in 2014 their daughter, Olivia was born. Charl grew up on a farm in Vereeniging, and it was there that he started playing golf at the young age of 5. Charl had an illustrious amateur career winning both on South African soil and abroad, reaching the pinnacle of his amateur career in 2002 when he won the Indian Amateur and English Open Stroke Play Championships. Charl also represented South Africa in the Eisenhower Trophy in that year and was ranked as the number-one amateur in South Africa by Golf Digest SA magazine.

2002 was a busy year for Charl as he also turned professional at the age of 18 and later that same year, he became the second youngest South African (after Dale Hayes) to attain his card for the European Tour. His first victory came at the Dunhill Championship in 2004 (a co-sanctioned event with the European Tour) where he beat Englishman Neil Cheetham in a playoff. Charl went on to win the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit that year and has won the Dunhill Championship no fewer than four times in his career.

Charl had been knocking on the door of international superstardom for many years, consistently ranked inside the top-50 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). His big breakthrough came in 2011 when he defeated Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Adam Scott in a spectacular final round at the Masters. Since his Major victory, he has established himself as one of the leading South African golfers and has regularly been ranked inside the OWGR top 10. Charl has also represented the International team at the Presidents Cup in 2011 and fulfilled a childhood dream by representing South Africa alongside compatriot Louis Oosthuizen at the World Cup at Mission Hills in China.

The 2016 season has so far seen Charl win 3 events, the Dunhill Championship and Tshwane Open which were both events co-sanctioned with the European Tour, and in March won his second PGA Tour at the Valspar Championship in Tampa, FL. In addition to being a professional golfer and family man, Charl enjoys flying and has a plane and helicopter license.