Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Thriston Lawrence and Charl Schwartzel represent South Africa at Masters

JOHANNESBURG – Three South Africans will tee off on Thursday at the Masters tournament at Augusta National in Georgia.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Thriston Lawrence and Charl Schwartzel will be part of the 95-player field at what is known as the ‘favourite week’ of the year for professional golfers.

THRISTON LAWRENCE

Thriston Lawrence will start his opening round at 17:10 (SA time), alongside Spain’s Jose-Maria Olazabal and American Brian Campbell.

The SA Open champion will be making his debut at the Masters. The PGA rookie earned his 2025 PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour where he had five runner-up finishes in 2024, including the European Open in Germany and its flagship event in England.

In July 2024, he finished T-4 in the Open at Royal Troon for his first top-10 finish in a major championship.

The 28-year-old  won the DP World Tour event in Germany and finished T-3 in the Irish Open and T-5 in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in 2023.

Between November 2021 and December 2022, he won three times on the DP World Tour, including victories in Switzerland and the South African Open in 2022.
He turned pro in 2014.

CHRISTIAAN BEZUIDENHOUT

Christiaan Bezuidenhout will get his tournament underway at 17:38 (SA time) alongside two Americans in Tom Hoge and Matt McCarty.

The 30-year-old enters the tournament as the best-ranked South African in the world, currently 57th on the PGA Tour.

This marks his fourth Master's start and his first since 2022. The man from Delmas has made the cut in each of his three starts at Augusta National. He finished T-4 in Phoenix in February.

He’s represented South Africa at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In 2024, the Olympian competed in his first Tour Championship at East Lake, represented South Africa in the Presidents Cup for the second time and finished runner-up in La Quinta, T-3 in a DP World Tour event in Japan and fourth in the Memorial Tournament.

From June 2019 – December 2020, he won four times around the world to raise his world ranking and earn his first invitations to major championships and in 2021, he earned his PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

CHARL SCHWAZRTZEL

Charl Schwazrtzel has been paired alongside American Denny McCarthy and Singapore amateur Hiroshi Tai and they will tee off at 17:49 (SA time).

The 2011 champion at Augusta National will be making his 16th Masters start and is looking to bag another Green Jacket for  South Africa.

The 40-year-old goes into the Masters having finished second to Australia’s Marc Leishman at the LIV Golf Miami tournament in Florida this past weekend.

The Joburg-born player won the 2011 Masters by two strokes over Jason Day and Adam Scott after closing with second-nine birdies on Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18. He became the first champion to make birdie on each of the last four holes in the final round to win and second to play holes 15-18 in four under par with Jack Nicklaus in 1986.

Schwazrtzel joined Gary Player and Trevor Immelman as Masters champions representing South Africa and won the 75th Tournament 50 years to the day after Player became the first international champion in 1961.

 In December 2024, he finished runner-up in an Asian Tour event in Qatar and T-15 in a DP World Tour event in South Africa.