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Another Major, Another Disappointment for Louis Oosthuizen

By Christian Paszko

South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen reacts on the 15th green during his final round on day 4 of The 149th British Open Golf Championship at Royal St George's, Sandwich in south-east England on July 18, 2021. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen reacts on the 15th green during his final round on day 4 of The 149th British Open Golf Championship at Royal St George's, Sandwich in south-east England on July 18, 2021. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Louis Oosthuizen again looked like he was in control of the field, this time at The Open Championship, a tournament he had won back in 2010 at St. Andrews.

As we all know, the game of golf owes you nothing and rarely shows you mercy. Oosthuizen looked like he was in control and was headed for his second major title, and for the third time in a major this year, Sunday was unkind to Louis.

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Oosthuizen was the class of the field through the first three rounds, a six under 64 on Thursday, a 5 over 65 on Friday, and a one under 69 on Saturday had him at the top of the leaderboard on all three days.

This wasn’t the first time this year that Louis couldn’t get it done. He was tied for the lead after round two at the PGA Championship. He then played one over on the weekend, having a crushing double bogey on the 13th hole on Sunday, taking a lot of pressure off of Phil Mickelson, who won the title. Oosthuizen finished T2.

The next month at the US Open at Torrey Pines, Oosthuizen had the lead going into the 71st hole of the tournament, and he puts his tee shot in the penalty area and ends up bogeying the hole, opening the door for Jon Rahm, a threshold that Rahm had no problem walking through. Louis would finish 2nd.

Which brings us to this weekend, where it happened again. Oosthuizen lead the first three rounds of the tournament. He plugged along as we’ve been used to over the course of this year.

Louis Oosthuizen just never got it going. Even early on, it looked like he was just sputtering trying to make something happen as Collin Morikawa was made of vibranium all day long.

Louis was two over on the front nine and was never really in it down the stretch. He shot one over on the round, in a tie for 3rd and saw the Claret Jug slip through his fingertips.

Maybe this is just me, but this is not the same as in 2017 when Rickie Fowler had all of those top fives in majors. Oothuizen had the lead in three of the four majors on Sunday, and came home with none of them.

I don’t want to say the Louis has the golf version of the yips with the fact that he is a major winner and is as steady as they come on the golf course. However, you would think with all of that skill and the experience of winning this tournament, in particular, he would’ve won one of these majors this year.

I don’t want this to be the narrative for Louis Oosthuizen, but after being on the door step and tripping on the last stair before heading through into the house just to watch somebody else make it inside makes it a little difficult.

Next. 2021 Open Championship: Winners and Losers. dark

The Open does come back to The Old Course at St. Andrews next year for the 150th Open Championship.

You know Louis will be one of the favorites come this time next year, but until then, He’ll have to find a way to stomach this pill that will be really tough to swallow. Redemption will be on the mind of the South African come next July.

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