South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen has won the SA Open at Randpark Golf Club.
The 2010 Open champion at St Andrews has now done the rare “double” by becoming only the sixth man to win both the “British Open” and the SA Open. The others to do it were Bobby Locke, Bob Charles, Gary Player, Henrik Stenson and Ernie Els.
Oosthuizen, who led by three shots from three players at 14-under-par going into the final round, recovered well after making bogeys at the second and third holes on Sunday. He made four birdies before the turn and then made an eagle-three at the par-five 14th to go six clear of his nearest rivals. A birdie three at the challenging par-four 16th put him seven clear.
In the end, 36-year-old Oosthuizen finished on 18-under-par after carding a final round four-under 67 and win by a whopping six strokes. A late bogey-four at the tricky par-three 17th mattered little to the newest SA Open champion.
Oosthuizen’s opening round nine-under-par 62 on Thursday on the Bushwillow course set him up for the tournament. He followed that up with rounds of 70 and 67 on the Firethorn layout before running away from his challengers on Sunday.
In second place, with a score of 12-under-par, was France’s Romain Langasque, who finished with an impressive 66 in his final round, while four players were tied in third place at 10-under-par, namely Charl Schwartzel, Thomas Aiken, Bryce Easton and England’s Oliver Wilson.
Five-time SA Open winner Ernie Els’ nephew, Jovan Rebula, won the Freddie Tait trophy, awarded to the leading amateur at the tournament. He finished at six-under-par, with scores of 67, 70, 70 and 71. Fellow amateurs Deon Germishuys (two-under-par), 15-year-old Yurav Premlall (two-under-par) and Wilco Nienaber (level par) also enjoyed a good tournament.