I did consider doing a daily round up of all the action from the Open at St Andrews, but Louis Oosthuizen changed all that with his runaway victory. I wanted to wait and see whether his game would hold up under the pressure or if he’d crumble as the likes of Paul Casey and Lee Westwood attempted to chase him down.
In the end, of course, his game not only held up but shone. Not at any point did he look like he would lose his cool or his control and his mastery of the links course in tough, windy and wet conditions was a pleasure to watch.
This was golf at its best. There were other brilliant rounds over the four days, not least from Casey, Westwood and the young Rory McIlroy who, despite a torrid second day, recovered superbly to finish tied third on 8 under after a 68 on the final day.
If it hadn’t been for that 8 over 80 on the second day, we could have had a much tighter finish. Casey will feel disappointed with his 75 on the last day as again, he could have challenged Oosthuizen with a better day.
One proud man, the South African winner aside, will be Lee Westwood. He remains the nearly man at majors, but his last round of 70 gave him second place on his own – and did beat Oosthuizen’s calmly taken 71.
For a while it looked like The Open record win of 8 shots clear was under threat. Woods – whose poor putting kept him out of contention here – was the last man to win by that margin, and Westwood ensured he retains that record by pulling back Oosthuizen to a 7 shot victory.
Will Louis gone on to be a great golfer in the same mould as compatriot Ernie Els? On this evidence, he has the game and temperament so why not? He needs to push on from here now, get consistency and challenge for more major honours.
Justin Rose, who I was following closely, sadly failed to perform. He missed the cut on Day Two but I remain hopeful that the 29 year old will one day capture a major. However, if anything, I want Westwood to do it first. He’s so close to it it must be weighing on his mind and his golf does deserve it.
The next golf I’m looking forward to now is the Ryder Cup. Should be brilliant. The USA remain strong but there has clearly been a resurgence in European golf over the last couple of years – a quick look at the final leaderboard here at the Open shows that. The five behind Oosthuizen were all Europeans. Bodes well, I hope!
