Oosthuizen four ahead as Open nears climax
Through a mixture of good fortune and undoubted fine play, Louis Oosthuizen goes into the fourth day of the Open Championship with a lead of four points over nearest rival Paul Casey. The South African shot three-under-par at St Andrews yesterday for a total of 15-under - and a fairly commanding position, if he can keep his nerve now.
Casey had a blistering opening, with five birdies in the front nine, but that was to remain his total for the day, with a back nine devoid of faults - but also flourishes. The Englishman carded a round of 67 to find himself 11-under for the tournament.
Germany's Martin Kaymer is third on the leaderboard on eight-under, having shot a round of four-under-68 yesterday while England's Lee Westwood is tied for fourth place on seven-under along with Spain's Alejandro Canizares and Sweden's Henrik Stenson.
Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy look capable of challenging for the top ten, Garcia two-under on the day while McIlroy was three-under. That leaves both players on four-under for the tournament, tied for 12th place - meaning it would take a truly amazing round from McIlroy (and a spectacular collapse from Oosthuizen) to win this major now, as the 21-year-old is currently 11 strokes off the pace.
St Andrews looks unlikely to be the venue of Tiger Woods' first win in 2010, with the world No. 1 a stroke further back on three-under for the tournament after he shot one-over 73 yesterday. Woods can take some small solace in the fact that Phil Mickelson, Woods' chief rival for the No. 1 spot, had a similarly frustrating day, the 40-year-old two-under on Saturday to stay level par for the tournament.
Shot of the day had to come from Miguel Angel Jimenez on the 17th; with his ball close to the wall, rather than take a penalty shot the Spaniard elected to purposefully hit his next shot into the wall, for it to richochet off and find the green in breathtakingly audacious fashion. You've got to love the Spaniard's chutzpah, even if it wasn't enough to prevent a double bogey-six on that pesky Road Hole, leaving him two-over on the day, three-over in total.
Play has already begun this morning, but the leaders won't take to the tees until just after 2:pm; with a gaping lead over most of the rest of the field, Oosthuizen will be more concerned about keeping his own game on track this afternoon, rather than fretting about the chasing pack.
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