Masters champ overhand-heaves club. But the bizarre was only starting. 

Charl Schwartzel

Charl Schwartzel heaves his iron on Thursday on the 15th hole at Innisbrook.

Golf Channel

The tee shot? It was short. The club toss? It was long. 

The iron from the fairway? Spot on.  

The swing and throw came during Thursday’s first round of the Valspar Championship. One hole after a bogey at Innisbrook, three holes after a triple, and two seconds after knowing his tee shot on the par-3 15th would come up well short, Charl Schwartzel had hit his limit. After his follow-through, the 2011 Masters champ brought his 6-iron back around his head and flung it yards down the fairway. 

“Uh oh,” analyst Gary Koch said on the Golf Channel broadcast.  

“Whoa,” announcer Dan Hicks said.  

“Whoa,” Koch said. 

“That was actually a better swing than the first one,” quipped analyst David Feherty

Perhaps. After the heave, Schwartzel unfastened his glove, walked down the fairway, chipped on and two-putted for a bogey four. 

“Uh well, don’t see that very often,” Koch said on the broadcast. “We see players slam clubs down, but actually heave them is rare.” 

“He’s probably still simmering from a triple bogey at 13,” Hicks said.  

“I’m sure he is,” Koch said. 

Only the bizarre wasn’t over. 

On the next hole, the 446-yard, par-4 16th, Schwartzel no-bounce holed-out an iron from 194 yards out. His reaction here was more subdued. 

“That’s more fun than throwing a club,” Hicks said on the broadcast. 

“Uh, yeah,” Koch said. “The embarrassment from throwing a club a couple holes earlier probably led to his reaction.” 

To recap, Schwartzel’s first-nine scorecard looked like this: par, birdie, birdie, triple, par, club-toss bogey, hole-out eagle, double and par. 

He finished with a five-over 76.   

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Nick Piastowski

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.