Masters 2025: South African trio ready for their Augusta challenge

It’s the ‘favourite week’ of the year for professional golfers as the Masters tournament takes centre stage from Thursday at Augusta National in Georgia.

South African and former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel is one of the international golfers, alongside US star Bryson DeChambeau, who describes the week at Augusta as the one they look forward to the most on the golfing calendar.

As the excitement builds for the first major golf tournament of the year, the 40-year-old Schwartzel alongside fellow South Africans Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Thriston Lawrence will fly the Mzansi flag at Augusta National, looking to bag another Green Jacket for the country.

Schwartzel comes fresh off a brilliant round at the LIV Miami tournament where he claimed second place and a cool just over R43,000,000 ( after missing out on the top spot on the podium with a good comeback round in the third).

He will be primed to carry that form into the week, especially after the 2011 Green Jacket winner, who will be playing in his 15th tournament, missed last year's cut. It’s something he’d want to make up for, and some consistency in especially his second round will go a long way in achieving that.

After shooting a two-over par 74 in the first round of last year’s tournament, he followed it up with an 81, his highest-ever score, to end on 11-over after two rounds. He consequently missed the cut for the fifth time in his Masters career.

Bezuidenhout enters the tournament as the best-ranked South African in the world. He is currently 57th on the PGA Tour and all eyes will be on him to lead the charge for the locals. He’s never missed the cut at Augusta, but his best finish in three attempts has been tied 38th in 2020.

The last time Bezuidenhout featured was in 2022, but he struggled to make any headway as he finished his final two rounds above par to end in 44th place.

It will be a special occasion for former SA Open champion Thriston Lawrence who will make his debut at the Masters. He completes the local trio, and the PGA rookie will have to soak in the occasion as he adds his name to the list of South Africans who have featured at one of the most famous – if not the most famous – major golf tournaments.

“I haven’t been doing the best lately, but I still know that once I am in that situation I can compete, I can control my emotions and give myself a great chance to win,” Lawrence said on the official DP World Tour website ahead of his Masters debut.

“I am not the best golfer in the world at the moment but if you look at my results last year, I had 10 top 10s, five second places and four wins in three years. So, golf is so marginal. I haven’t made a lot of cuts in the last couple of weeks, but it feels like I am so close to winning again. It’s crazy.”

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Northern Irishmen Rory McIlroy, Americans Xander Schauffele, Colin Morikawa and DeChambeau, Jon Rahm of Spain and Irishmen Shane Lowry are tipped to excel from Thursday.

But, the course has humbled plenty of former champions and aspiring winners alike, and it will be a challenge over the four days to grab the title and Green Jacket.