Another day, another near-miss for Louis Oosthuizen at British Open
Louis Oosthuizen said the famous St Andrews links where he won his first major five years ago “showed its teeth” on Monday after he fell just short of a second British Open.
The South African looked like the favourite before the start of the fourth round when he went out in the final pairing with Irish amateur Paul Dunne and battled doggedly to set-up a three-way play-off with Zach Johnson and Marc Leishman.
Needing a birdie on the 18th to match Johnson’s one-under total for the four-hole play-off, his 10-foot putt refused to break right, bringing to an end a memorable final day.
It’s never nice to lose a play-off. I’ve had the experience in 2012 at Augusta.But yeah, I’ll take a lot out of this week
It was Oosthuizen’s second near miss in quick succession after sharing second place at the US Open last month.
“The front nine, you could see everyone was scoring on the front nine, and I was only – I went through in two-under, and that back nine was tough,” Oosthuizen said. “When we made the turn on 12, St Andrews showed its teeth.”
Oosthuizen, whose final 54 holes at Chambers Bay last month was the lowest in US Open history but still left him short, seemed to be closing in on the Claret Jug when he rolled in a birdie at the 12th to reach 15 under.
