Louis Oosthuizen lost to Rory McIlroy by one stroke at the Deutsche Bank Championship
Following a commanding three-stroke lead after three rounds, Louis Oosthuizen failed to maintain consistency on the final day and lost to the world number one Rory McIlroy by one stroke at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Oosthuizen posted 66-65-63 in the first three rounds for an impressive 19-under par score. The only need was to add another decent under-par score on Monday to strengthen his position on top of the leaderboard.
However, he got off to a poor start, as he signed a double bogey on the fifth hole that completely shattered his confidence.
Through 12 holes, he was one-over par for the round. He then managed to make a slight comeback by carding birdies on the 13th and 15th hole.
That was a time when he desperately needed another birdie to challenge McIlroy on top of the leaderboard. However, a bogey on the 17th hole followed by a par putt on the 18th forced him to take the second spot, at the end of the tournament.
While talking to the PGA Tour’s official website, he admitted that he did not play well on the front nine of the course, which made the back nine really tough to play.
“It was a good week. I played well. Didn't start well today, which made the back nine really tough,” he said. “But all in all, I'm very happy with the week. There's two more big events left, and I'm very happy with the way I'm hitting the ball going into
those tournaments”.
The South African also confirmed that he felt some pain in his shoulder, after he teed off on the fifth hole. As a result, he failed to maintain accuracy and the ball went way out of the fairway.
“That was the first time I felt the shoulder, just after impact, and then 6, 7 the same, on 9 again,” he explained.
“It was just on the drive all the time. It sort of eased off going on the back nine. Going down 12, I didn't feel it at all, and probably a bit of adrenaline that helped going down the final holes there”.
He now plans to remain focused on the last two tournaments in the PGA Tour Playoffs – the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship.
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