ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Had, say, Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson or even Lee Westwood delivered the performance that won the British Open on Sunday, he would have been hailed as a great and worthy champion, a veteran player with the skill to negotiate the Old Course bluster and the resume to suggest he was smart enough to understand his position, holding a sizable lead.
But the author of this winning performance — marvelous as it was for him, dull as it was for nearly everyone else — was Louis Oosthuizen, a 27-year-old from a blue-collar family in Mossel Bay, South Africa. His primary international accomplishment, before this week, might have been winning the par-3 contest the day before the start of this year’s Masters.
Sunday, as the rest of the field treaded water — birdies among the leaders were as rare as bikini-clad sunbathers on the West Sands beach across the way from the course — Oosthuizen smiled his way around the Old Course, chuckling frequently.
“It was just fantastic,” he said.
Why the heck wouldn’t he enjoy it? The flogging he administered was complete. Oosthuizen’s winning score of 16-under-par 272 was seven better than Westwood, the runner-up, the largest margin of victory at the British Open since Woods beat the field by eight here in 2000.
“That was an unbelievable performance,” said Paul Casey, Oosthuizen’s playing partner. “He was very calm, played wonderful golf, and all credit to him.”
But what to make of such a victory? It is scarcely Oosthuizen’s fault the rest of the field sleepwalked through the proceedings, and that few realize he could be a factor on the European Tour, where he plays regularly.
Credentials aside, if Oosthuizen’s four-shot overnight lead was to evaporate, he would have had to collapse, and someone else would have had to surge. Neither happened.
This, then, is what amounted to drama: After opening with seven consecutive pars, Oosthuizen stumbled, failing to get up-and-down at the eighth, his first bogey in 25 holes. Casey, the Englishman who had similarly never contended in a major, thus found himself within three.
Yet here is how Oosthuizen handled such adversity: He drove the green at the 352-yard ninth.
“I just had it in my head I needed one putt just to get my rhythm going,” he said.
So he stood over a putt of some 50 feet, and holed it for an eagle.
Thus, when Casey two-putted for birdie, Oosthuizen made the turn with a four-shot lead on Casey, an eight-shot edge on the rest of the field.
Casey, then, stood as the only player with even a semblance of a chance — until he hit his tee shot in a nasty, prickly gorse bush on the 12th, couldn’t play his ball, and had to drop. He could have gotten up-and-down for bogey, but he hit his chip to the back of the green and made triple.
“That was very annoying,” Casey said. “That was poor.”
Oosthuizen, meanwhile, had reached the green in two, and waited while Casey finished out his ugly 7. When Oosthuizen rolled in his birdie, his lead was a staggering eight shots.
“All of a sudden, it was mine to throw away, really,” Oosthuizen said.
He did not.
“To win an Open Championship is special,” Oosthuizen said. “But to win it here at St. Andrews is just — it’s something you dream about.”
British Open record book
How Louis Oosthuizen stacks up all time after the South African’s seven-shot, 16-under-par (272) victory at St. Andrews on Sunday:
BIGGEST MARGIN OF VICTORY
Before 1900
* 13 strokes: Tom Morris Sr., 1862
1900-2010
* Eight strokes: J.H. Taylor, 1900, 1913; James Braid, 1908; Tiger Woods, 2000
CHAMPIONS WITH THE LOWEST TOTAL IN RELATION TO PAR (SINCE 1963)
19-under: Tiger Woods, St. Andrews, 2000 (269)
18-under: Nick Faldo, St. Andrews, 1990 (270); Tiger Woods, Royal Liverpool, 2006 (270)
Source:
Bests
England’s top hope:
Lee Westwood finished second with a solid 70 in the final round, but the United Kingdom’s losing streak in its major continued. No golfer from Britain or Northern Ireland has hoisted the Claret Jug since Paul Lawrie in 1999.
Big days for South Africa:
A week after the World Cup, South African leaders are basking in Louis Oosthuizen’s overwhelming victory. Minister of Sport Makhenkesi Stofile and the country’s ruling party lauded Oosthuizen, saying he has strengthened the nation’s sports credentials.
Fine finishes:
American Ricky Fowler and Spain’s Alvaro Quiros had Sunday’s best rounds at 67.
The Associated Press
Worsts
Miserable day:
One awful round cost Rory McIlroy a chance to win the British Open. He shot in the 60s in three rounds, including a 68 on Sunday, but his round of 80 on Friday ruined his chances. McIlroy finished eight strokes behind winner Louis Oosthuizen.
Nice start, bad finish:
John Daly, the 1995 winner at St. Andrews, finished 1-over after his third consecutive over-par round following an opening 66.
Never on Sunday:
1989 champion Mark Calcavecchia, who shot a 67 in the second round and held second place, blew up on Sunday, hitting five bogeys, a double bogey and a triple bogey.
The Associated Press
