Louis Oosthuizen knows, better than anyone else in the field of the 149th Open Championship being played at Royal St George’s, that the most important two days of the four lie ahead of him ahead of his tee-off time for the third round this afternoon.
This is all despite his record-setting halfway total of 11-under-par 129 for the Open, which, in fact is just one off the lowest ever 36-hole total for any major championship. Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion, has finished runner up at six majors, including twice this year, since hoisting the Claret Jug at The Old Course at St Andrews 11 years ago. That year, he started with a 65, improved to 12-under at the midway point and raced to a seven-stroke victory.
It sounds incredibly similar to the scenario unfolding this year. But Oosthuizen is hesitant to start thinking too far ahead. “The game is good, but I know it’s a really good leaderboard,” he said. “I have to play good golf this weekend if I want to come out first.”
While that might be the prudent approach, there is much Oosthuizen can take out of those similarities, especially given his obvious affinity for links golf. He’s straight off the tee, he’s accurate into the greens and he is blessed with a seemingly unflappable demeanour – not for him the snapped club of a Tyrrell Hatton, or the broken putter of a Marc Leishman, both of which happened in Friday’s second round.
Perhaps he is better equipped because of that equanimity than his American pursuers Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth. The golf seen on the PGA Tour is often a limited test of the ability to execute precisely, and those who simply play for the money cherish that simplicity. Links golf, however, also tests imagination, perseverance and patience.
Oosthuizen knows the level of precision required to win a major championship. He’s done it himself, and more recently been bitten by it, wilting on a pair of Sunday afternoons to a pair of runner-up finishes in the PGA Championship to 51-year-old Phil Mickelson and in the US Open to a charginf world number one John Rahm. He knows he’ll only get so many opportunities to truly contend for majors, and he may never get another opportunity this good – not that it changes anything.
“I’m going to try not to think about second,” he said. “I know my game is in a good place and found strategically how to play this course. I’m taking a lot of drivers and I’m betting on myself for that. Hopefully on the weekend I’ll feel comfortable and I can do it again.”
Oosthuizen has seen this scenario play out often enough to know what his chances are and there is no use at all in thinking too far ahead.
“I remember looking back at 2010, and I know I had a big lead, but the first time I really thought about winning the tournament was after my tee shot on 17,” he said. “There were a lot of things that could go wrong at St Andrews coming in.
“You try not to think of it until you’ve done it. Around this golf course, a lot of things can happen. I don’t think you want to think too much of it on a links course until you get to that 18th green, and hopefully you have a lead.”
