Last Sunday, Matthew Wolff delivered us the most casual club toss in club-toss history at the Players Championship. On Thursday at the Valspar Championship, Charl Schwartzel gave us the most vicious club toss in club-toss history. Needless to say, it’s been a huge five days for tossin’ sticks.
Actually, this was more of a throw then it was a toss, a likely reaction to something that had occurred a few holes earlier. Schwartzel, who won this event in 2016, had birdied two of his first three holes, getting to two under before he reached the par-3 16th. Disaster struck there, with the South African hitting his first in the water, taking a drop from 94 yards away and making quite a mess from there. After hitting his third on the fringe, 35 feet from the hole, Schwartzel’s bogey attempt left him with three feet for double. He missed that one, too, cleaning up a two-footer for a triple-bogey six.
At the next hole, the par-5 14th, Schwartzel had seven feet for a bounce-back birdie and missed. His rage boiled over the the par-3 15th, where he pulled his tee shot and then LAUNCHED his 6 iron for one of the more unintentionally funny clips of the season to date:
Electric stuff. And we feel comfortable saying that since we trust Schwartzel didn’t kill anybody with this throw. As long as no one was in danger, there’s nothing wrong with letting some anger out, especially when you don’t have to pay for golf clubs.
The throw must have caused Schwartzel to lose a bit of focus, because he proceeded to miss a two-footer for par at 15 to drop to two over on the round. Ouch. But wait, this story has a (somewhat) happy ending. Look what the former Masters champ did at the very next hole:
BANG! By the way, how about the reaction? No one has ever been less enthused over a literal slam-dunk eagle than Schwartzel. He was clearly still very, very mad over the triple from a few holes earler. What could possibly salvage the mood? An ace? Five birdies in a row? Judging off that reaction, probably nothing. I would stay out of his eyeline for the forseeable future.
Since that hole, Schwartzel has gone par-par-birdie-bogey. Perhaps a little more consistency like that will level him out.