Hlas column from the Masters: Charl in charge early and at the end

AUGUSTA, Ga. - On the first three days of the Masters, I saw exactly 500 strokes over 45 holes from a total of five players.

Nothing registered as truly memorable. It happens. Augusta National is a bit on the challenging side.

Sunday afternoon, I strolled down to the No. 1 green to watch the final five pairings finish their first hole of the final round. I saw five pars and a bogey. Then came the next-to-last pairing of K.J. Choi and Charl Schwartzel, who both started the day four shots behind leader Rory McIlroy.

Choi got on the green of that par-4 in two shots. Schwartzel did not. His approach almost beaned me. It landed just on the other side of the gallery rope near me and other spectators. The ball came to rest on level ground, to the right of the green and about 90 feet from the pin, which was in the back left of the elevated green.

Schwartzel hit a chip-and-run up a slope and onto the green. Its pace was beautiful and its line every bit as good. It started to the right, then curled directly toward the cup. Then it fell in the hole for a beauty of a birdie. The crowd around the green went wild.

“I don't think I've ever heard a roar that loud around me,” Schwartzel said later. “It was just a great way to start.”

Schwartzel raised his right arm in the air after pulling the ball from the cup and proceeded forward.

Mere minutes after I returned to the Masters media center to watch the rest of the tourney on television - the only way to adequately keep up with all of Sunday's play - Schwartzel had topped that birdie. He holed in a pitch from 114 yards for an eagle to get to 11-under.

“From the word go on the first hole, things started going for me,” said Schwartzel. “It's always nice to start in the right direction.”

It's nice to end that way, too. The 26-year-old South African bogeyed No. 4, then made nothing but pars until the 15th hole. When it was time for a champion to show himself, Schwartzel did that and more.

He went birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie on the final four holes to break from a large pack that staged a madcap musical-chairs battle over most of the back nine, and went to Butler Cabin to get himself a green jacket.

“This game's a funny game,” Schwartzel said. “Things just happen. Sometimes it sort of just snowballs.”

It's been said a million times that the Masters doesn't start until the back nine on Sunday. And that was true for McIlroy, who was still in the lead until his tee shot at No. 10 was a horrific beginning to his atrocious finish.

McIlroy shot an 80. He is 21 years old. He is phenomenal. But the triple-bogey he had on 10 was grotesque, and he only unraveled more after that. Many expected a coronation for him after he held a 4-shot lead Saturday night. However, there was no boy king here this year.

The front nine holes counted for something Sunday, oh yes they did. You start the last round in contention and have a chip-in for birdie and pitch-in for eagle on the first three holes, you've brought Masters headline lore to the part of the course that's always just a warm-up act.

The front-half of the course was where Tiger Woods was the old Tiger Woods on Sunday. He shot 5-under over those nine holes and had people seriously wondering if he would fire a 62 and shatter the tourney's record. He probably of had millions of casual golf fans alter their afternoon plans to watch the Masters a good bit longer than they planned.

The back nine, where Woods has worked so much sleight of hand in winning four Masters, saw no such magic this time. He played that half of the course at even-par and finished tied for fourth at 10-under, four shots behind Schwartzel.

After the round, CBS' Peter Kostis asked Woods if he would go to the practice range to loosen up in case of a playoff.

“I'm gonna go eat. I'm starving,” Woods said.

Anticlimactic? Depends who you liked. I was for the guy who both scared and entertained me on the first hole, your Masters champion.