MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2026

Charl Schwartzel

Quick Quotes

Q. Charl, how is the game feeling and the preparation going into Thursday?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Good. Yeah. It's nice to be early. Last couple years I haven't been able to do that, but was able to come in on Saturday, and it's been much more relaxing preparation, and I feel a lot less rushed and stuff.

Been able to work around the golf course on certain shots and able to spend some time in this new gym. And it's a nice way of doing it.

Q. Definitely. You mentioned the new gym. As past champion, you've spent a lot of time here. Obviously a lot has changed over the last few years?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, look, every year we get back and there's something new. They just do it at a different standard than anywhere else that we go.

The new facility is magnificent. There's not much you can say.

Q. What do you know about this course that you might not have known when you first came here? What knowledge do you feel like you acquired the most, I guess?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: You know, I think playing with Casey Jarvis, it's his first time, and we're playing it now on a Monday and a Tuesday, the biggest thing about this golf course is how it can change overnight. And it's something I can explain to him, but he's going to have to experience it himself.

There's so many shots where yesterday and today you can go pretty much straightforward to what you see, but they take some moisture out of it, you put some wind conditions, and all of a sudden that straightforward shot becomes you gotta widen your view so much of where to go. And there's a lot of it on this golf course.

Q. So with the really good weather forecast, which means no rain, do you see this thing getting a lot faster?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, for sure. I'll be surprised if they don't. We're expecting it. I mean, I think it's going to be a Masters that is where we're going to have nice, dry and fast conditions.

Q. It's been 40 years, Charl, since Nick Price set the Masters tournament record here, 63; 30 years since Greg Norman matched it. Why do you think that record has been held for so long and not been broken?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: They keep lengthening the course. So they keep staying with the technology. And they're always changing something. 14th green gets sort of a little bit of a change. So they're always busy doing something to keep it difficult. And then it's also the Masters. It's not so easy to shoot 63.

Q. It's a course that's well protected from a score line, especially this week, fast greens and undulations.

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: If it gets softer, that's when you'll see guys challenge it. I don't see them challenging it when it gets firm.

Q. For people that haven't been here, much less played it, how do you describe the challenge of Amen Corner?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Again, Amen Corner has become a thing, mainly. So everybody talks about it. And then Amen Corner is the wind. When there's a little bit of wind like today and it gets firm, it becomes really challenging. There's no real precision. You can hit two shots 30 seconds apart and you get two different results.

It's challenging in perfect conditions, but make it firm and put a bit of wind, you're just trying to get through there with not too much damage.

Q. Obviously you're never comfortable out here given what you said about the wind, but in 2011 when you did win, did you have a strategy you thought worked for you on those three holes?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: Yeah, look, I mean, obviously at that time I got to sit down with Jack, and he explained to me how he played it. And it was very -- if you think about it, it's just how you should play, but you always try and get overaggressive. And he was very disciplined in the where to put the ball.

And it's the same. You go down 11, you gotta move the ball away from the water, you know. And front right is okay. Hard, short, middle of the green, that's fine. Even if the flag is at the back, it's the right play.

12, keep those bunkers in between. So you get a bit of wind change, at least it doesn't go in the water; it goes in the bunker.

There's always that sort of strategy. So I kept that in mind, because you're not going to win it through those holes, but you can lose it through those holes.

Q. You've seen that before?

CHARL SCHWARTZEL: I've seen that plenty of times.