A Few 2010 Open Championship Final Round Clippings
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By no means a definitive list (it never is!), but here's what's been posted and worth a look before I head for one more stroll across the Home hole and to bed. Starting with the ledes:
Doug Ferguson, writing for the Associated Press:
Hardly anyone knew Louis Oosthuizen, much less how to pronounce his name. Not many will forget the performance he delivered at the home of golf to capture the British Open.
Damon Hack for golf.com:
There have been easier names engraved on the claret jug — whose newest addition is a Jambalaya of consonants and vowels — but if Louis Oosthuizen doesn't yet roll off the tongue, give it time. In the centuries of golfers making pilgrimages to these links, few have taken a journey so unlikely and turned it into a victory so dominant.
Lawrence Donegan in the Guardian:
The little-known Louis Oosthuizen is not little-known any more after today adding his name to the most exclusive list in golf; that of Open Championship winners at the Old Course in St Andrews.
Lorne Rubenstein on Oosty and his caddie, who has won his second Open.
His mental acuity and Zack Rasego, his caddie since 2003, helped him stay the course. Rasego, who is black, and who caddied for Player when he won the 1974 Open, refers to the two of them as a “rainbow team.”
They are, after all, from the rainbow nation of South Africa, which recently held a successful World Cup. When Oosthuizen walked up the vast 18th fairway Sunday, knowing he would embrace the claret jug as champion in a few moments, he thought of Nelson Mandela. He was winning the Open on Mandela’s 92nd birthday.
“It’s good to win for South Africa on Nelson Mandela’s birthday,” Rasego said. “It’s a fantastic day for us.”
Steve Elling on Louis and his relaxed demeanor.
Saturday morning, after sleeping on the 36-hole lead, Oosthuizen called over his friend Schwartzel, a pal from their junior-golf days in South Africa, shortly before Louis teed off in the final group of the day. He had some comedy video clips he was watching.
"He was showing me things on his iPhone," said Schwartzel, who waited three hours to congratulate his buddy behind the 18th green. "He was laughing, and it was an hour before he teed off. He's so relaxed."
Ron Sirak on the winner:
What this tournament lacked in excitement -- for the last three hours, the only tension concerned whether the engraver would spell "Oosthuizen" correctly on the claret jug -- it made up for in execution by its winner. Louis Oosthuizen, a Euro Tour member by way of South Africa, simply outplayed everyone on his way to a seven-stroke victory over Lee Westwood. It may have been dull, but it wasn't a fluke -- at least not this week.
Oliver Brown on runner up Lee Westwood:
As Lee Westwood walked desultorily on to the 18th green to receive his memento of another runner’s-up finish, he could have been forgiven for wanting to use the Silver Salver as a dinner tray.It would, to be sure, have looked lovely in his Worksop kitchen. But Westwood is tired of the consolation medals, weary of being cast as golf’s perpetual nearly man. With this gruff manner and general loathing of any airs and graces, he is not exactly a natural bridesmaid.
Melanie Hauser on third place finisher Paul Casey, who we forget was worried about his career future not that long ago.
In a way, Casey felt blessed just to be here. He tore his rib muscles at the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational last year, then tore them again at the HSBC Champions. “I’ll be honest,” he said, “it was scary. I was very worried about it. I thought, is this something I'm going to be battling the rest of my career? Am I done? Will I ever be pain free? I had no idea.”
Alistair Tait wonders if this is the start of a trend of American golf on the decline.
Scott Michaux on Tiger's interesting takeaway.
Masters at Augusta National: T4. No legitimate threat. U.S. Open at Pebble Beach: T4. No Sunday charge. British Open at St. Andrews: T23. No renewed dominance.
How disappointed is Woods that he failed to make hay on the fields he has previously plowed through?
"The good news is I've won half my majors not on these venues, too," Woods quipped as he exited the podium.
And Bob Harig adds this in his breakdown of Tiger's week:
Woods has now gone nine majors -- two of which he did not play thanks to injury -- without winning. It is his longest stretch without a major victory since he underwent swing changes in 2003 and '04.
And in truth, he was further off in the major championships in those years, with just one top-5 finish and only two top-10s. Don't forget, Woods tied for fourth at both the Masters and U.S. Open this year -- his best tournaments this season.
Jaime Diaz talks to Doug Sanders about making a return to the Old Course.
"People say, 'Mr. Sanders, we're so sorry you missed that putt,' and a lot of them have forgotten that the guy that won was the greatest player in history," he said during a brief conversation before the leaders teed off Sunday. "It's almost like for them, I was the winner."
With this win, Louis Oosthuizen style from the European Tour.
GolfDigest.com Sam Weinman files Birdies and Bogeys from the final day.
And finally, the PGA Tour's Daily Wrap-up.
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 03:25 PM
Reader Comments (6)
the rest of the golfing world is now producing great golfers who are on a par with any country, including the good old us of a.
this is a good thing for golf and people who are interested in golf. the media don't like it because it means they have to do homework on more than two or three golfers now, even going so far as to learn how to pronounce difficult furriner names. plus, it's harder to force tournaments into one of their predetermined "storylines."
You do have to wonder about Americans doing well under windy, firm and fast conditions? Tiger used to be fine under them but not so much these days. . . Our boys just don't have the advantages their "air games" and "flops from thick greenside rough" usually provide. . . The PGA will likely be played with wind and firm fairways. . .Do you think Tiger and Phil might as well stay home?
part of the problem is the way we define "american" golfer. paul casey would seem to be as american a golfer as anyone. he has lived here since he was 17 or 18, he played his college golf here, and he plays the usa tour pretty much full time, as do poulter and a couple of other guys. unless the difficulty with windy and firm and fast conditions is somehow determined by a golfer's country of birth, i just don't see how such a global conclusion about "american" golfers is reasonable.
i wouldn't write off tiger for whistling straits (at least not on the basis of the playing conditions), but phil has demonstrated to me that he is not good at adjusting either his game or his attitude to those conditions.