Louis Oosthuizen Continues Open Form at Scandinavian Masters
Louis Oosthuizen has completed his first round at the Scandinavian Masters, shooting a 67 to finish at five under par — tied for first place with Richard Green of Australia.
Oosthuizen entered the tournament as the headline name in the tournament which kicked off in Sweden on Thursday. The winner of the 2010 British Open last week, Oosthuizen was looking forward to getting back on the course, a much needed distraction from all the attention he has been receiving.
Oosthuizen is excited about the opportunity to compete in another tournament so soon after winning the British Open. He has good momentum to run with and doesn’t feel any additional pressure: "I'm still the same person — I'll just probably get a few more people looking at me," he said.
The South African is looking forward to refocusing on his game, taking a break from regaling family, friends, and reporters about his St Andrews win. It will be a nice thing knowing my phone's off in the bag, and I'm not going to get that many phone calls," Oosthuizen told reporters on Wednesday.
Not all of his phone calls have been tiresome and repetitive. Oosthuizen received a flattering phone call from Greg Norman, winner of the 1989 and 1993 British Opens. “He said something I'll always remember for the rest of my life . . . He said I'm the first person that got him to watch a full round of golf on television. He watched my first shot until my 18th putt. He couldn't leave the couch and to me that's an enormous thing — it's brilliant."
Norman is an Australian golfer with 20 PGA Tour wins, two British Open victories, 14 European tour wins, and 31 on the PGA Tour of Australia. On the course he is known as The Great White Shark, a nickname he picked up for his aggressive golf style and references his blonde hair, size, and the great white sharks inhabiting Australian waters.
While the rest of the world got to watch Oosthuizen on TV win the Open, Oosthuizen admits he has yet to watch the replay of his winning fourth round,
"I'm getting the round four footage soon and I'd like to see it. I think it will sink in a bit more then," said Oosthuizen, who is still a bit shocked he pulled off the win. "It feels from the way I played it, it felt pretty normal like any tournament, but if I see it myself on TV, I'll probably realize what I've done."
Oosthuizen won’t get a lot of down time this week but if he does get to see the footage of his fourth round it might be helpful to review for the Scandinavian Masters. He has some tough competition to contend with; Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina is going to be working hard to become the first player in the tournament’s history to defend the title. Gonzalez won the 2009 Scandinavian Masters by two strokes over Jamie Donaldson, his first win on the European tour in five years.
Sweden has two strong competitors in the tournament, Jesper Parnevik and Qatar Masters winner Robert Karlsson. Parnevik is a two time Scandinavian Masters champion and also has a history with Norman. The Swedish golfer underwent hip surgery in 2000, a decision he wasn’t ready to make until speaking with Norman who had also undergone a similar hip surgery.
Parnevik missed the cuts for his first three European Tour events this year and withdrew from a first round 68 at the Northern Trust Open because of back pains. Parnevik underwent emergency surgery shortly after when it was discovered that he had a broken lumbar vertebrae, a potentially career ending injury. He has been consulting with physicians and is fit enough to play in the tournament.
American golfer Ricky Folwer will also be in attendance and hoping to do better than his top 15 finish at St Andrews. He likes the Stockholm 7,551 yard Bro Hof Slott golf course and feels confident after a good practice round:
"I played the course yesterday and it looks in great shape and it's really long."
Tags: