Houston Open: Round Two Suspended… for Charl Schwartzel
Round Two of the Houston Open has been suspended, even though the only man left to finish is Charl Schwartzel.
When hearing that a round has been suspended due to darkness, you would think that there would at least be a couple of players left on the course. At the Houston Open, there is only one man left on the course. It’s Charl Schwartzel, and he has a lot riding on his first two shots in the morning when play resumes.
You see, Schwartzel is sitting on the fringe of the par-3 9th hole, his final hole of the round. What makes it compelling is that he is sitting at the cut line of +3. A par and he gets to keep playing. A bogey and poor Schwartzel is going to be heading back home after only taking three swings of the golf club.
Imagine what must be going through his mind. He knows that if he messes up on one of those first two shots, that his day is going to be over before most people have even woke up. Play is going to resume at the Houston Open at 5:15 AM pacific, or 7:15 Houston time.
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Personally, I would be feeling the pressure. To wake up early, head to a PGA Tour event, the Houston Open a week before the Masters no less, and know that if you duff your chip or miss your putt… that you are already going home.
It’s almost worth waking up and finding a way to watch to see if he can make it home for par in order to be able to continue playing. The one good part about it for him will be that if he does make it in par, he is going to head back to the first tee and start soon after. He is going to be tied for last place, right on the cut line, so he won’t have to wait long to start again.
There is an interesting conundrum though, and it could even be seen as a moral dilemma. Charl Schwartzel knows the exact shot that he has coming up in the morning. He is 81 feet away from the hole, and sitting in the fringe. Is it morally right for him to spend a bunch of time practicing a 27-yard putt or bump and run? Or should he only be permitted a normal warm-up session, and then be sent back on to the course?
Both sides of the argument have legitimate reasons. You would practice around the green chips, putts, and approaches during a normal warm-up. He should be able to do so before resuming play in the morning. Heck, you would say that after a round of play, you would be warmed up from that distance anyway, and have the right to get back into that mindset.
However, what you wouldn’t want to see was Schwartzel hitting hundreds upon hundreds of shots from that distance, trying to take advantage of the fact that he has been given extra time due to the suspension of the second round due to darkness.
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He is going to resume play soon after daybreak in the morning, and there is a lot of pressure on Charl Schwartzel. Two strokes and he gets to play another 18 holes. If it takes him any more, he will be heading home. Check to see what happened when you wake up… hopefully, he will be on the course for round three.