Louis Oosthuizen scored his maiden win on the European Tour on Sunday, beating Richard Finch and Peter Whiteford by three strokes to take victory at the Andalucian Open.
The 27-year-old South African carded five birdies and two bogeys on the final day to come home three-under-67, 17-under in total - finally securing a win after finishing as runner up on four previous occasions. The win pushes Oosthuizen into the world top 50, thus securing an invite to next month's Masters.
"I was quite nervous down the stretch and very nervous on the 18th tee," admitted Oosthuizen. "I just decided to hit it as hard as I could. Now I want to stay in the top 50 and be competitive every time I play."
Englishman Finch carded six birdies in all and finished strongly with three birdies on the last five holes, including two on the 17th and 18th - but a bogey on the 2nd, and a maddening double bogey on the 9th scuppered any chance of victory.
Whiteford's final round told a similar story, with six birdies and a pair of bogeys keeping the Scotsman level with Finch whilst never really threatening Oosthuizen's lead.
Francesco Molinari, one half of last year's World Cup winning team, finished in fourth place. The Italian came home with five birdies and two bogeys to record a final day score of three-under, 12-under in total.
Molinari shared fourth place with England's Robert Coles, despite a disappointing final day for the 37-year-old journeyman. During Saturday's third round, Coles had hit ten birdies, including a remarkable run of five in succession between the 10th and 14th holes. He was second at the start of yesterday's play, but carded a couple of bogeys early on and then hit a double bogey on the 15th to come home one-over-71.
The final day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill on the PGA Tour was interrupted by rain and will conclude today, with Ernie Els currently leading after 14 holes. But the South African may be feeling less cheerful than his "Big Easy" nickname suggests - Els began yesterday's action five shots to the good, and has seen that lead diminish. With four holes left to play, Kevin Na looks a serious threat to Els' chances of victory, lying just two strokes behind the leader.
Tags: