– Louis Oosthuizen had to wait until the 17th hole on Sunday in the final round of the Africa Open to shake off the dogged challenge of Tjaart van der Walt and successfully defend his title with his ninth win as a professional.
He rammed home a 35-footer for birdie then to open up a two stroke lead, and he finished on 27-under-par 265, two ahead of Van der Walt.
“It was a real dogfight for most of the day,” said Oosthuizen. “I remember watching Tjaart when I was an amateur, and it was just great seeing him play to his potential today. He played really well. He’s one of those who won’t go away. He’s not going to mess it up – he’s too consistent for that.”
But it was just a tremor that seemed to cross Van der Walt’s poker face after a day-long battle as Oosthuizen sank his putt for birdie on the difficult par-three that betrayed him and left him still in search of a maiden professional win.
He missed his birdie putt, and he missed his par putt, and left himself too much to do to catch the 2010 Open champion.
“What happened on 17, it was going to be one of us who faltered,” said Oosthuizen, “If I two-putted, he would probably have made that short putt. One of us needed to make some big putt to put a lot of pressure on the other guy, and it was just fortunate for me that it went my way.”
The battle between the two left 2009 champion Retief Goosen back in third place on 24-under-par 268, while Jaco van Zyl took fourth place one shot further back – in turn, one shot ahead of Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth.
And there was some joy for Richard Sterne, who, in his return to tournament action after nearly a year off in an attempt to get over some major back problems, finished sixth on 20-under-par 272.
But it was all about the battle up front for the fans, and they got some of Oosthuizen’s sparkling best.
Amongst the array of shots which enchanted them was a moment on the sixth tee: He had just made his second bogey of the day on the fifth, and he stepped up onto the following 282-metre par-four with driver in his hand.
“I did something stupid on the putt – I changed my mind standing over it, and I was very cross with myself,” he said. “On six, I go for that green every time, so to me it was a good driver today with the wind into me.”
He made birdie there, and again on seven. He made another crucially on nine, a hole which was the most difficult on the course throughout the week and gave up just two birdies to the top 30 players.
That got him back into the hunt just as it looked as if he might slip back, and, as Van der Walt and Goosen each made a bogey in their homeward nine, Oosthuizen was flawless on his way to victory.
Incredibly, Oosthuizen said ahead of the final round that he thought 27-under would win. “At one stage, I thought it would be more, but once you turn and reach 13 – 13, 14, 15 were great holes today; 17 and 18 as well, so I knew there wouldn’t be many birdies,” he said.
As it turned out, the two he made were enough – and the two strokes he picked up with them equated to his margin of victory.
PE Golf Club's Lyle Rowe had a great week and a closing 5-under 68 saw him finish in a tie for 8th place.
Knysna's Brand Grace tied for 14th place on a 16-under par and Walmer Country Club professional Titch Moore was down in 75th on a 3-under par total but happy to have made the weekend after a year out of the game following elbow surgery.
Scores (RSA unless specified):
265 - Louis Oosthuizen 69 62 67 67
267 - Tjaart van der Walt 69 64 65 69
268 - Retief Goosen 65 68 66 69
269 - Jaco van Zyl 71 65 67 66
270 - Alastair Forsyth(SCO) 69 66 68 67
272 - Richard Sterne 69 69 64 70
273 - Danny Willett (ENG) 67 68 65 73
274 - Lyle Rowe 73 68 65 68, Craig Lee (SCO) 68 67 68 71
275 - Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 73 66 71 65, Peter Karmis 68 70 69 68, Matthew Baldwin (ENG) 72 64 70 69, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 69 66 70 70
276 - Branden Grace 77 63 69 67, Jaco Ahlers 65 68 73 70, Shaun Norris 67 70 69 70, Thomas Aiken 64 69 72 71
277 - David Drysdale (SCO) 72 69 69 67, Reinier Saxton (NED) 71 70 69 67, Jacques Blaauw 70 69 70 68, Dawie Van der Walt 70 70 69 68, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 69 66 72 70, Benn Barham (ENG) 70 66 70 71, Tim Sluiter (NED) 68 69 69 71, Joshua Cunliffe 69 68 69 71, Adilson Da Silva (BRA) 69 69 68 71, Darren Fichardt 71 70 65 71, Richard Bland (ENG) 67 69 69 72
278 - David Howell (ENG) 68 69 72 69, George Coetzee 71 68 69 70, Doug McGuigan 70 69 68 71, Danie van Tonder 70 70 67 71, Tyrone Ferreira 68 68 69 73
279 - Phillip Archer (ENG) 73 67 72 67, Taco Remkes (NED) 68 70 71 70, Jorge Campillo (ESP) 71 66 71 71, Maarten Lafeber (NED) 67 73 68 71, Garth Mulroy 68 72 68 71, Edouard Dubois (FRA) 69 71 68 71, Grant Muller 69 69 68 73
280 - Warren Abery 71 70 70 69, JJ Senekal 67 71 71 71, Chris Wood (ENG) 69 71 69 71, James Kingston 70 71 68 71, Allan Versfeld 69 70 68 73, Agustin Domingo (ESP) 68 71 68 73
281 - Matthew Nixon (ENG) 70 71 74 66, Merrick Bremner 69 70 74 68, Desvonde Botes 69 71 71 70, Ariel Canete (ARG) 71 68 71 71, Steven O'Hara (SCO) 70 70 70 71, Sam Walker (ENG) 69 68 72 72, Andrew Marshall (ENG) 74 65 69 73
282 - Jamie Elson (ENG) 70 71 71 70, Sam Hutsby (ENG) 73 65 72 72, Alessandro Tadini (ITA) 70 70 70 72, Alan McLean (SCO) 70 71 68 73, Julien Quesne (FRA) 69 71 68 74
283 - Wil Besseling (NED) 69 70 73 71, Andrew Georgiou 75 66 71 71, Ruan de Smidt 69 70 67 77
284 - Jamie Moul (ENG) 70 71 72 71, Jordi Garcia (ESP) 68 73 71 72, Hendrik Buhrmann 72 69 71 72, Bryce Easton 69 70 72 73, Albert Pistorius 71 69 71 73, Charles-Edouard Russo (FRA) 67 72 71 74, Keith Horne 69 67 73 75
285 - Scott Pinckney (USA) 69 72 67 77
287 - Dean O'Riley 66 75 74 72, Vaughn Groenewald 73 68 73 73, Justin Walters 73 68 71 75
288 - Knut Borsheim (NOR) 70 68 76 74, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA) 71 67 72 78
289 - Titch Moore 74 66 75 74
290 - Neil Cheetham (ENG) 71 68 76 75, JG Claassen 68 72 75 75, Adam Gee (ENG) 69 69 74 78
293 - Ockie Strydom 70 69 81 73, Oliver Wilson (ENG) 70 69 78 76
RTD - Phillip Price (WAL) 66 71 69 RTD
