Oos about that - King Louis crowned at St Andrews
South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen has won the 139th Open Championship in audacious fashion, the 32-year-old beating his nearest rival by some seven strokes at St Andrews this evening.
A rank outsider when the tournament began, Oosthuizen had led since the end of day two, and finished today on one-under, having eagled the short 9th and birdied the 12th. There were slips too, Oosthuizen dropping shots at the 8th and 17th - not that it made much difference. Oosthuizen finished on 16-under for the tournament.
The man known affectionately (we think) as Shrek, thanks to his his gap-toothed grin, played solidly, if not spectacularly today. But the damage was done earlier in the week, the South African shooting scores of seven-under and five-under on the opening two days to top the leaderboard when all around him were struggling in the windswept conditions.
Speaking to a BBC reporter directly after the win, a beaming Oosthuizen admitted: "It's unbelievable. To kick on and keep focused, I felt like I hit some good shots. It' s amazing. It's probably going to hit me tomorrow."
He added: "I think I played really well the whole week," but wasn't entirely happy with his performance, saying :"I would have liked to have kept the record of not going in a bunker!" - a reference to the 14th, when Oosthuizen found the sand, although it scarcely hindered him.
Fortune played some element in Oosthuizen's victory, the 27-year-old benefitting from playing earlier on the Friday when conditions weren't so bad - later on that day the wind was so strong that play had to be temporarily suspended - but Oosthuizen also played some undeniably excellent golf to ascend to the top of the table.
Lee Westwood finished in second place, adding to his excellent but agonising record at the majors; in the last five majors, Westwood has finished in the top five on four occasions. The world No. 3 shot two-under today for a tournament total of nine-under.
Paul Casey, playing alongside Oosthuizen, had looked the likeliest challenger earlier on, but as Oosthuizen stayed focused and Casey ran into trouble on the 12th with a triple bogey seven, Casey's charge seemed to be over. The Englishman finished three-over today, eight-under for the Championship - a finish that saw him tied for third place with Henrik Stenson, the Swede having shot an unremarkable one-under, with a solitary birdie, following a round of 67 on Saturday.
And Rory McIlroy also finished on eight-under-par, four-under on the day, the 21-year-old having carded five birdies and a bogey. McIlroy had looked capable of running away with the Championship on the first day, shooting an opening round of nine-under, but all that good work was undone the next day as McIlroy bore the brunt of some foul weather, running up a second round score of eight-over.
While McIlroy mulls over what might have been, however, it's Oosthuizen who claims the glory today. The heretofore little known Afrikaner has stepped up to the big league, and while it remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of something special or simply a wonderful one-off, the man was utterly nerveless as he faced down challenges from some of Europe's greatest players this week.
St Andrews has proved the graveyard of many an accomplished golfer in the last 150 years, but Oosthuizen came alive here this week - this was an amazing, one might even say Shrek-tacular performance.
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