Another memorable British Open

Louis Oosthuizen made it seem easy as the South African cruised to a seven-shot victory at St. Andrews Old Course for his first major championship win.

Oosthuizen took control of the tournament with a 67 in the second round and pulled away from the field with a third round 69.  He became an unlikely champion but, that happens in major tournaments.

After 18 holes, it seemed like this year’s Open Championship could have the mark of a classic with Rory McIlroy leading the field with a nine-under par63. Tiger Woods was in the top five through 18, as was John Daly.  But, all would fall off in the second round – McIlroy shot 80 and Woods 73.

It was Oosthuizen who was the picture of consistency.  He was only two shots off McIlroy’s early lead.  Oosthuizen did what players that win needed to do – putt well.  He was nearly perfect from 10-feet in with the short stick all week.

Lee Westwood had another strong finish and is seemingly due for a major title.  McIlroy recovered from that 80 to shoot 69-68 over the weekend to finish tied for third with Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson.  Retief  Goosen took sixth place with Sean O’Hair, Nick Watney, Martin Kaymer and Robert Rock tying for seventh place.  PGA TOUR rookie Rickie Fowler, after shooting 79 in the first round, finished the tournament at four-under par, tied for 14th place.  Woods went on to finish tied for 23rd at three-under par for the week.  Phil Mickelson tied for 48th place at one-over par with Daly and defending Open champion Stewart Cink.