Oosthuizen eight ahead at Open Championship
Many thought he would crack, but Louis Oosthuizen is holding on to the lead in convincing style at St Andrews today in his bid to win the 139th Open Championship.
Oosthuizen, quoted at 250-1 to win before the tournament commenced last Thursday, has just gone eight-strokes ahead of nearest competitors Paul Casey and Lee Westwood, after Casey had a disastrous 12th.
Casey, pictured, hit a bush and was forced to take a penalty drop that saw the 32-year-old shooting blind to reach the green - and finishing some 60 yards away from it.
On reaching the green, Casey's nightmare continued; on reaching the green, he took three putts to finish the hole off, making for a triple bogey seven that saw the Englishman drop to nine-under, some eight strokes behind the South African.
So far this year Tiger Woods has played best at the majors, with fourth place finishes at Augusta and Pebble Beach, but the world No. 1 couldn't come close to taking a third win at St Andrews, having triumphed here in 2000 and 2005.
So Woods remains winless this year, having carded a level-par for the day in a round that featured five birdies, a bogey on the 13th and a pair of doubles on the 4th and 7th, all of which meant the 34-year-old was three-under for the tournament.
And Woods remained characteristically single-minded when interviewed directly afterwards. Asked about his abiding memory of the tournament, Tiger replied: "I didn't win." He was prepared to comment on what went right (and wrong), saying: "I've been driving better than I have been for a long time, but I had one of the worst putting weeks I've ever had."
Woods also backed Oosthuizen to bag the Claret Jug, saying: "The way he's playing, controlling his emotions, he's doing everything he needs to do to win."
Jin Jeong finished strongly, the Korean amateur eagling the 18th to finish four under for the tournament - and win the silver medal, as leading amateur.
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