Oosthuizen claims Open victory

Louis Oosthuizen has secured his maiden major title by clinching victory in the Open at St Andrews (Check out Betfred’s golf markets).

The South African had led the field since Friday and there was never any doubt that he would claim the famous Claret Jug during the final day’s play.

He started the day five strokes ahead of Paul Casey in second and the Englishman saw his challenge fail with a triple-bogey on the 12th.

Lee Westwood picked up two shots to score a final round of 70. This pushed him into second place at nine under par overall. This was still seven shots behind Oosthuizen, whose final day 71 enabled him to finish 16 under par for the tournament.

There was a tie for third with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and England’s Casey all on eight under.

Tiger Woods was a shadow of his former self, with double bogeys on the fourth and seventh contributing to his level-par 72. This meant he finished the tournament three under.

Speaking to the BBC upon being crowned Open champion, Oosthuizen paid tribute to Nelson Mandela, whose 92nd birthday it is today, and compatriot Ernie Els.

He also said; “It’s unbelievable. After the 12th it became a bit difficult to keep such a big lead and to remain calm and focused but I kept cool and calm the whole way.

“I’m glad I had eight shots on 18! I think I cramped up a bit with the putter on 18 as well.

“It was a battle for me to keep clam round this course. That was the biggest goal for me, to keep calm. It’s probably going to hit me tomorrow or the week after what I did.”

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