Charl Schwartzel inspired by past Masters win as Tiger Woods fights to make cut

Charl Schwartzel took inspiration from watching footage of his previous Masters victory to move into contention for a second title as Tiger Woods battled to make the halfway cut.

Schwartzel has missed the cut in each of his last six starts on the PGA Tour and hit the headlines for throwing a club in frustration during the first round of the Valspar Championship.

But the 37-year-old South African shrugged off his lack of form to master the windy conditions at Augusta National and card a second round of 69 to share the clubhouse lead with South Korea’s Sungjae Im.

Schwartzel revealed he had been inspired by rewatching his victory here in 2011 during some recent time off.

“The bad results didn’t really determine how I felt coming in here,” he said after a round containing five birdies and two bogeys.

“I actually took two weeks off and as the two weeks went by, my confidence grew in belief that I could win this tournament because I was starting to hit it very good and just looked at old footage and it’s still there.”

There was not such good news for Schwartzel’s compatriot Louis Oosthuizen, the former Open champion withdrawing before the start of his second round due to an unspecified injury.

The absence of Oosthuizen, who had finished second, second and third in his previous three majors, meant Tiger Woods had only Joaquin Niemann for company in round two.

Woods carded an opening 71 on his latest remarkable return from injury, the 15-time major winner having suffered serious leg injuries in a car crash in February last year.

But the 46-year-old got off to a nightmare start on Friday as he dropped shots on the first, third, fourth and fifth, before steadying the ship with a birdie on the eighth.

At two over par Woods was two