Louis Oosthuizen claimed the biggest comeback victory in the history of the Volvo Golf Champions when he came from five shots behind to win this European Tour event at Durban Country Club on Sunday.
Oosthuizen closed with a 66 to win by one stroke on 16 under par against the all-champions field.
The South African started the day five shots behind Scott Jamieson. But the turning point came when Jamieson double-bogeyed the fifth hole after hitting deep into the bushes, and Oosthuizen birdied the sixth to see them only two shots apart.
As Jamieson tried to steady himself, Oosthuizen increased the pressure with a birdie on the par-five eighth. He drew level with Jamieson when he birdied 10, and then birdies at 11 and 14 carried him to the title.
“It was great. Starting five shots behind meant I had no real pressure. So I went out to see if I could make loads of birdies. I got to 9 and saw I was one behind, and the fans really got into it. By 12 I was leading by one and it was great to see the home fans so pumped up about it,” said Oosthuizen.
This is the sixth European Tour victory of his career, but the first in which he has won when not in the lead going into the final round. Oosthuizen led the exclusive 33-man field after his second round 64, but then slipped back with a third round of 74.
“I felt really uncomfortable on the course in the third round. My swing felt so unstable. On the final day I knew if I could get close to Scott I’d have a chance. I wanted to get to 18 under because I thought that would do it, but in the end I bogeyed 16 and then made two good pars on 17 and 18.”
Jamieson was hunting the fairytale of back-to-back victories in Durban after his victory in the Nelson Mandela Championship late last year. But a level-par 72 saw him take second on 15 under.
“I’m extremely disappointed just to come up one shot shy after I had umpteen chances out there,” he said. “But he’s a good player. He’s a Major champion.”
Oosthuizen is also a few steps closer to his goal of reaching world number two.
“It’s a great start and I can only build from here. Now I’ve just got a few more to go on the world rankings.”
272 Louis Oosthuizen RSA 68 64 74 66
273 Scott Jamieson SCO 69 64 68 72
274 Thongchai Jaidee THA 65 68 73 68
276 Padraig Harrington IRL 70 71 67 68
277 Julien Quesne FRA 72 67 67 71; Danny Willett ENG 69 70 70 68
278 Branden Grace RSA 75 67 69 67; Paul Lawrie SCO 69 70 70 69
279 Rafa Cabrera-Bello ESP 72 69 70 68; Shane Lowry IRL 70 69 70 70; Richie Ramsay SCO 69 73 70 67; Matteo Manasserro ITA 75 69 66 69; Francesco Molinari ITA 70 70 68 71
279 Thomas Bjorn DEN 69 70 72 68; Nicolas Colsaerts BEL 73 67 71 68
280 Jamie Donaldson WAL 69 72 73 66; Jeev Milkha Singh IND 69 70 72 69
281 Paul Casey ENG 74 69 69 69; Ernie Els RSA 68 72 71 70
282 Retief Goosen RSA 72 70 70 70; Gonzalo Fdez-Castano ESP 75 70 69 68
283 Darren Clarke NIR 75 68 71 69; Henrik Stenson SWE 72 70 70 71
284 Robert Rock ENG 70 74 70 70
285 Michael Hoey NIR 72 74 66 73
286 Marcel Siem GER 74 74 72 66
288 Bernd Wiesberger AUT 76 71 73 68
289 Ricardo Santos POR 76 76 65 72
290 Darren Fichardt RSA 78 70 75 67; Colin Montgomerie SCO 72 78 70 70
292 Thorbjørn Olesen DEN 75 72 74 71
293 José María Olazabal ESP 74 72 72 75; Jbe Kruger RSA 75 73 70 75
