Worldwide Golf

UNHERALDED South African Louis Oosthuizen produced a performance that rivalled the supremacy of Tiger Woods at St Andrews ten years ago to secure a maiden Major title at the home of golf and cap a sensational year of sport for South Africa.

Oosthuizen was the very definition of calm as the gusts coming in off the North Sea blew away his competitors and he was left to stroll to a seven-stroke victory ahead of Lee Westwood.

“It’s unbelievable,” he beamed after following in the footsteps of Bobby Locke at St Andrews and Gary Player and Ernie Els as winners of The Open. “It was a battle for me to keep calm round this course. That was the biggest goal for me, to keep calm. It’s probably going to hit me tomorrow or the week after what I did.”

The 27-year-old began the final day with a four-stroke lead over Paul Casey and after an inspirational chat with Player prior to teeing off he carded a stress-free 1-under-par 71 to finish on 16-under-par for the tournament.

“We had a chat in my home language Afrikaans,” said Oosthuizen. “He said to stay calm, have a lot of fun and that the crowd was going to be on Paul’s side.

“Then he told me the story when he played against Arnold Palmer when he won his first Masters. He said they wanted to throw stuff at him, but he was so focused on beating him in Augusta. It meant a lot him phoning me up. He’s just a great guy.”

Oosthuizen opened with seven straight pars but when he bogeyed hole 8 his lead was down to three strokes from Casey and the crowd showed their support for the Englishman as they sensed a change in fortune. However, the 5’ 10” powerhouse from Mossel Bay moved quickly to exert his dominance, sinking a raking eagle putt on the following hole after driving the green. Casey made a birdie but with the gap back to four strokes Oosthuizen could breath a little easier.

He made it to 17-under on hole 12 while Casey wound up with a triple bogey after hitting some gorse bushes and from there the result was a formality. Westwood couldn’t apply any real pressure on the outward half, making his first birdie on the ninth. A bogey on the 12^th pegged him back to level par for the day but back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 gave him second place. He bogeyed the 17^th Road Hole but birdied the last to hang on to second on 9-under-par and secure his fourth top-three finish in the last five Majors. Casey wound up with a 3-over 75 and a share of third place alongside Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson on 8-under.

Oosthuizen did drop a shot on the 17^th but a simple par at the last was all that was required for him to take golf’s biggest prize on what was Nelson Mandela’s 92^nd birthday.

“It’s amazing. I woke up this morning and I didn’t know it was his birthday, but I saw it on the news,” said Oosthuizen. “It felt a bit special out there. When I walked down the 18th I was thinking about his birthday and then my manager also gave me a list of things for my speech and it was also in there. What he’s done for our country is unbelievable.”

Another of his fellow countryman on his thank-you list was 2002 Open Champion Ernie Els. Oosthuizen revealed that the experienced he gained in his three years in the Ernie Els Foundation set him up perfectly for a career in professional golf. Before turning pro Oosthuizen admitted that Els had funded and supported his progress and said that he wouldn’t be where he is today without his help as his father didn’t earn enough to financially back the youngster to go all the way.

“At that stage things weren’t going that great on the farm, and we just heard of this foundation which had just started,” he explained. “It was an unbelievable three years with what Ernie did for me, travelling around the country, helping with expenses, giving clinics, things like that. He’s such a good mentor, probably without him I wouldn’t be here. It’s just nice knowing him; he’s just a great, great guy to be around.”

The Big Easy himself is proud of his young protégée after he became the first Major winner to progress through his foundation.

“This is absolutely unbelievable,” said Els, who won at Muirfield eight years ago.

“It would be difficult to find anybody in the world who is more proud of him right now.

“He comes from a little town on the outskirts of George in South Africa and needed help so we took him into the foundation and educated him and sent him to various tournaments around the country and also the world.

“I could not be happier. He is our first Major champion and has made us all very proud. His life will change but he won’t. He is simply a wonderful kid. You cannot find a better one. I thought long before anybody had heard of him that he was going to be an exceptional player.”

Words quickly came in from Player too, who never doubted the youngster’s temperament in what was the biggest moment of his career to date.

“He’s very, very good, has a magnificent golf swing and has got a lot of experience," said the 74-year-old three-time Open Champion. “He has won golf tournaments and is very, very strong physically but he doesn’t look like it when you see him walking along the fairways with waterproofs on.

“He wants to buy a farm, it’s a great incentive and I understand because that’s how I wanted to win to buy my farm and that’s my great joy in life.”

Prior to his historic win Oosthuizen had won five times on the South African Sunshine Tour and finally made his European Tour breakthrough earlier this year at the Open de Andalucia de Golf in Spain. Now he’s setting his sights on more Major glory after getting the taste for it around the most famous track in the world.

“I want a few more of them,” he smiled. “It would be great - after winning one you want to get to the second one and after the second one you probably want to get to the third. I’m going to work harder and get as many as I can. To win an Open Championship is special, but to win it here at St. Andrews is just something you dream about.”