Masters 2011: Schwartzel dedicates victory to father

Masters champion Charl Schwartzel dedicated his win to his father after a dramatic victory at Augusta.

The South African birdied his last four holes on the way to a final-round 66 to win his first major championship.

Schwartzel said: "My dad played such a big part in my golf and without him I wouldn't have the golf swing I have or be where I am now."

The 26-year-old also said he was inspired by fellow countrymen Louis Oosthuizen and Ernie Els.

Els is a three-time major champion and Oosthuizen won last year's Open Championship at St Andrews by seven strokes.

"To see Louis win the Open was just such a big inspiration," added Schwartzel. "Just to see him do it made me realise that it is possible and it just took me over the barrier of thinking that a major is too big for someone to win.

"We grew up together from a young age and we still play almost every single practice round together.

"We used to play every single team event, every tournament against each other and we represented South Africa for so long. We always travelled together, so we basically are the best of mates."

Schwartzel was four shots behind 54-hole leader Rory McIlroy at the start of Sunday's final round but he carded five birdies and an eagle to win by two strokes from Australian pair Adam Scott and Jason Day.

"It was a phenomenal day," stated Schwartzel. "Scott and Day were making birdies and I needed to do something.

"There were so many roars going round Augusta, especially the back nine. It echoes through those trees.

"Every single hole you walk down, someone has done something.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking at the leaderboard but sometimes I would look at it and not register what I was looking at, and I think that sort of helped."

And Schwartzel's caddy Greg Hearmon was on hand to help the new world number 11 keep a cool head over the closing stages of the back nine at Augusta.

"You dream of these things but you don't expect them to happen," said Hearmon.

"Charl was calm down the stretch. It's a cliche but we just took it one shot at a time. It was one of those days, we just seemed to have perfect numbers, perfect yardages."

Hearmon also spoke of how far Schwartzel has come since turning professional at the age of 18 in 2002.

"Charl's gradually climbed through the ranks," continued Harmon. "He's slipped under the radar a bit because he's a quieter guy."