Louis Oosthuizen

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Louis Oosthuizen
— Golfer —
Louis Oosthuizen victory.jpg
Oosthuizen after winning the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews.
Personal information
Full name Lodewicus Theodorus Oosthuizen
Born (1982-10-19) 19 October 1982 (age 41)
Mossel Bay, South Africa
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Nationality  South Africa
Residence Mossel Bay, South Africa
Manchester, England[1]
Jupiter, Florida[citation needed]
Spouse Nel-Mare (m. 2007)[2]
Children Jana, Sophia, Emma[2]
Career
Turned professional 2002
Current tour(s) European Tour
Sunshine Tour
PGA Tour
Professional wins 12
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 1
European Tour 7
Asian Tour 1
Sunshine Tour 7
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters Tournament 2nd: 2012
U.S. Open T2: 2015
The Open Championship Won: 2010
PGA Championship T15: 2014

Lodewicus Theodorus "Louis" Oosthuizen (/ˈl ˈwʊst.hzən/; Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈlu.i ˈoəst.ɦœjzən];[3] born 19 October 1982) is a South African professional golfer who won the 2010 Open Championship and has finished runner-up in a further three major championships: the 2012 Masters Tournament losing in a sudden death playoff, the 2015 U.S. Open, and the 2015 Open Championship where he was defeated in a four-hole aggregate playoff. His highest placing on the Official World Golf Ranking is fourth which he achieved in January 2013.[4]

Early life and career

Oosthuizen was born in Mossel Bay, South Africa. His early career was supported financially for three years by the foundation of fellow South African golfer Ernie Els.[5] He won numerous amateur titles before turning professional in 2002 at the age of 19.

Oosthuizen at the 2008 Telkom PGA Championship

He has won five professional tournaments on the Sunshine Tour: the 2004 Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour event at Arabella, the 2007 Dimension Data Pro-Am and Platinum Classic, and the Telkom PGA Championship twice, in 2007 and 2008.

He played on the European Challenge Tour in 2003 and has been a member of the European Tour since 2004. In 2009, he finished 31st on the Race to Dubai. On 10 September 2012 he reached the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career.

In March 2010, he won his first European Tour event at the Open de Andalucia de Golf.[6] He also won the 2010 Masters Par 3 Contest.[7]

2010 Open Championship

Oosthuizen entered the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews ranked 54th in the Official World Golf Ranking,[8] and only having made one cut in eight major championship appearances.[9] He shot a 65 on the first day, placing him in second place, behind a 63 shot by Rory McIlroy.[10]

Oosthuizen's 67 on Friday was the low round of the day[10] and gave him a lead that he would not relinquish throughout the final two rounds.[11] His two-day total of 132 tied the record for the lowest 36-hole score in an Open Championship at St Andrews.[12] A 69 on Saturday placed Oosthuizen at 15-under-par, and four shots clear of second-place Paul Casey with one round to play.[13]

On Sunday, Casey closed the gap to three shots on the 8th hole, before Oosthuizen drove the 9th green and made a long putt for eagle.[14] On the 12th hole, Oosthuizen made birdie, while Casey hit his drive into a gorse bush, and wound up making triple bogey to give Oosthuizen an eight-shot lead.[14][15] In the end, Oosthuizen shot 71 on Sunday, and 16-under-par 272 for the championship, to win by seven strokes. His 272 was the second lowest in St Andrews history. Casey eventually finished third with Lee Westwood taking second.

Oosthuizen became the fourth man from South Africa to win the Claret Jug – following Bobby Locke, Gary Player, and Ernie Els – and moved to 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking,[16][17] leapfrogging fellow South African Retief Goosen in 16th position.

Oosthuizen claims his exemplary focus during the tournament, which enabled him to win by a wide margin, was due to a red spot marked on his glove. He would look at that spot as the beginning of his pre-shot routine and use it to help him remain focused before and during his swing. Oosthuizen had consulted Karl Morris, a Manchester-based sports psychologist, prior to the event for ways in which he could improve his concentration.[18]

After 2010

Oosthuizen finished the 2010 season in 10th place on the Race to Dubai, posting three further top-10s after his major win. In January 2011, he claimed his third European Tour title, and his sixth in his home country, winning the Africa Open in a playoff.[19] In 2012, Oosthuizen successfully defended his title at the Africa Open with a two stroke victory over Tjaart van der Walt. His success was helped by a second round 62, which took Oosthuizen to the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage and from there he held on for victory.[20]

Oosthuizen was runner-up at the 2012 Masters Tournament. In the final round, he scored an albatross on the second hole of Augusta National Golf Club. This was only the fourth ever albatross in Masters history, and the first to be televised, as well as the first ever on that hole. Oosthuizen took the outright lead of the tournament with this exceptional shot, and maintained the lead until caught on the 16th hole, by Bubba Watson. He was eventually defeated by Watson on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.[21] The following week he won his fifth European Tour title at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

In the second event of the 2012 PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs, the Deutsche Bank Championship, Oosthuizen held the 54-hole lead by three strokes and came close to his first victory on US soil, finishing second to Rory McIlroy by one shot.

On 10 September 2012, he reached the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. He finished the season ranked third on the Race to Dubai.

On 13 January 2013, he won the Volvo Golf Champions, shooting a six-under-par 66 final round to win the title by one stroke.[22]

In January 2014, he retained the Volvo Golf Champions title by one shot over Branden Grace.[23]

Oosthuizen finished as a joint runner-up in the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews after losing in a four-hole aggregate playoff during a Monday finish to the event. He was in the final group tied for the 54-hole co-lead but needed to birdie the 18th hole during his final round to tie the lead at 15-under and join Zach Johnson and Marc Leishman in the playoff. In the four-hole playoff, he birdied the first hole alongside Johnson, but could not convert his birdie putt on the second hole, giving Johnson a one-stroke advantage. All three players bogeyed the third hole and after Johnson missed his birdie putt on the final hole, Oosthuizen had a 15 footer to extend the playoff to sudden death. However his putt caught the lip on the low side and he finished at even-par, one stroke behind Johnson. This was Oosthuizen's second consecutive runner-up placing in a major championship, following the 2015 U.S. Open.

Amateur wins (6)

  • 2000 World Junior Championship
  • 2001 All African Games (Kenya), Transvaal Amateur Stroke Play Championship (South Africa)
  • 2002 Indian Amateur Open Championship (tied), Irish Amateur Open Championship, Natal Open Stroke Play Championship (South Africa)

Professional wins (12)

Oosthuizen at the 2007 Valle Romano Open at the Aloha Golf Club, Marbella, Spain

European Tour wins (7)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other European Tour (6)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 28 Mar 2010 Open de Andalucia de Golf 67-63-66-67=263 −17 3 strokes England Richard Finch, Scotland Peter Whiteford
2 18 Jul 2010 The Open Championship 65-67-69-71=272 −16 7 strokes England Lee Westwood
3 9 Jan 2011 Africa Open1 70-67-69-70=276 −16 Playoff Spain Manuel Quirós, England Chris Wood
4 8 Jan 2012 Africa Open1 (2) 69-62-67-67=265 −27 2 strokes South Africa Tjaart van der Walt
5 15 Apr 2012 Maybank Malaysian Open2 66-68-69-68=271 −17 3 strokes Scotland Stephen Gallacher
6 13 Jan 2013 Volvo Golf Champions 68-64-74-66=272 −16 1 stroke Scotland Scott Jamieson
7 12 Jan 2014 Volvo Golf Champions (2) 68-69-71-68=276 −12 1 stroke South Africa Branden Grace

1 Co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour
2 Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–3)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2011 Africa Open Spain Manuel Quirós, England Chris Wood Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2012 Masters Tournament United States Bubba Watson Lost to par on second extra hole
3 2012 Barclays Singapore Open Italy Matteo Manassero Lost to eagle on third extra hole
4 2015 The Open Championship United States Zach Johnson, Australia Marc Leishman Johnson won four-hole aggregate playoff:
Johnson 3-3-5-4=15 (−1), Oosthuizen 3-4-5-4=16 (E), Leishman 5-4-5-4=18 (+2)

PGA Tour wins (1)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner-up
1 18 Jul 2010 The Open Championship 65-67-69-71=272 −16 7 strokes England Lee Westwood

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2012 Masters Tournament United States Bubba Watson Lost to par on second extra hole
2 2015 The Open Championship United States Zach Johnson, Australia Marc Leishman Johnson won four-hole aggregate playoff:
Johnson 3-3-5-4=15 (−1), Oosthuizen 3-4-5-4=16 (E), Leishman 5-4-5-4=18 (+2)

Sunshine Tour wins (7)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 19 Sep 2004 Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour at Arabella 74-70-71=215 −1 1 stroke South Africa Keith Horne
2 28 Jan 2007 Dimension Data Pro-Am 66-71-71-69=277 −11 1 stroke South Africa Omar Sandys
3 25 Feb 2007 Telkom PGA Championship 67-65-69-65=266 −22 1 stroke South Africa Richard Sterne
4 27 Oct 2007 Platinum Classic 64-71-70=205 −11 Playoff Zimbabwe Marc Cayeux, Brazil Adilson da Silva
5 24 Feb 2008 Telkom PGA Championship (2) 66-63-66-65=260 −28 14 strokes South Africa Hennie Otto
6 9 Jan 2011 Africa Open1 70-67-69-70=276 −16 Playoff Spain Manuel Quirós, England Chris Wood
7 8 Jan 2012 Africa Open1 (2) 69-62-67-67=265 −27 2 strokes South Africa Tjaart van der Walt

1 Co-sanctioned by the European Tour

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
2010 The Open Championship 4 shot lead −16 (65-67-69-71=272) 7 strokes England Lee Westwood

Results timeline

Tournament 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT CUT CUT 2 CUT 25 T19
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT T9 CUT WD T40 T2
The Open Championship CUT DNP CUT DNP DNP CUT 1 T54 T19 WD T36 T2
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP 73 CUT CUT CUT T21 DNP T15 T30

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
WD = withdrew
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 1 0 1 1 3 7 3
U.S. Open 0 1 0 1 2 2 6 3
The Open Championship 1 1 0 2 2 3 9 5
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 4
Totals 1 3 0 4 5 10 29 15
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (2014 Masters – 2015 PGA, current)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

Results in World Golf Championship events

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Cadillac Championship T32 T50 T68 T20 DNP T18 T60 T33 T40 6
Cadillac Match Play Championship DNP DNP DNP R64 DNP R64 R32 R32 QF QF
Bridgestone Invitational DNP DNP DNP DNP T9 T37 4 DNP 61 T42
HSBC Champions DNP T72 T7 T6 T15 T14 T44

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

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  3. He pronounced his name for the American audience in this TV ad; see also the Inogolo page.
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  5. Lynn Zinser, "Oosthuizen Leads Wind-Interrupted Open", New York Times, 16 July 2010.
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  12. Gene Wojciechowski, "Oosthuizen thinking big with Open lead", ESPN.com, 16 July 2010.
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External links

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