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Week 49: Oosthuizen moves to World No.25
December 12, 2018
Louis Oosthuizen cemented his place in the history books when he won the South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Joburg moving to World No. 25.His six-stroke victory over France's Romain Langasque also earned him the unique distinction of being only the fourth South African player to claim the oldest open championships in the world, namely The Open Championship and the South African Open Championship. He joins Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Ernie Els in that unique club of champions.
“I think I'm the fourth South African to do it,” he said after his victory. “It feels very special to have the two oldest opens in the world. There was a lot of emotions at the end there. It was a tough four days but I feel like I put everything together until the end.”
He came into the final round with a three-shot cushion over England's Matt Wallace, Madalitso Muthiya of Zambia and his close personal friend Charl Schwartzel. A shaky start which was characterised by two back-to-back bogeys in his first three holes threatened to derail him as the chase for the number one spot gathered momentum behind him.
He recovered swiftly, however, and picked up birdies on the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes to arrest what looked like a dangerous threat to his ambition of claiming his maiden national open.
“It looked like everyone started shaky today, except for Branden (Grace)” he remarked, “When I saw his name up there early on, I knew he was going to give a charge. All of a sudden, I had a one-shot lead and I tried to just narrow everything a little bit and got on fairways and greens to give myself opportunities. But I played well and I'm rolling the ball really good. If I had an easier shot with an iron, I would take it on. I just kept everything together nicely.”
