First Open Question: All Time Great Performance, Or Luck Of The Draw?

The Champion poses at the Swilken Bridge Monday after a press conference (click to enlarge)Or a little of both?

I'm pretty sure if Tiger, Phil, Lee, Ernie, even Paul, Rory or Martin posted the winning margins Louis Oosthuizen did, they'd call it one of the great performances in the history of the game.

There's little question he ended up having a great draw, but remember back to Thursday it was thought to be the wrong end of the draw!

Thoughts?

Comments

[Joey]

Look at the list of high finishers. Mostly early Friday rounds, except Rory, who somehow managed to get himself back to respectability.

[Joey]

Although I believe Louis benefited from an early Friday round, he still played magnificently on the weekend and, I believe, qualifies as a great performance. That everyone else choked doesn't mean he wasn't great.

[George]

Sure, luck was an element. But it was a great performance by any standard. And yes, the pundits would be breathless and tripping over adjectives if it had been one of the marquee players. I'm certain Louis is not the slightest bit concerned about the press.
As well as he played, I'd be surprised if he didn't stay on the radar. I don't think it will be a Michael Campbell thing.

[Buck]

Missed traps and putted well, like someone also did in 2000. For varying reasons, I don't see either winning another major.

[BF4]

I think his play on Saturday and Sunday, under the same conditions as the rest of the leaders and with a ton of pressure to deal with make him more than a worthy champion.
That said, he couldn't have asked for a better pair of tee times on Thursday and Friday. Just like Calc, who was in the group ahead of him those two days, he got an incredibly lucky draw.
His "afternoon" time on Thursday was so early in the afternoon that he got way more holes in good conditions than Phil, Westwood, McDowell, etc. And on Friday, he was off so early he didn't get it as bad as the rest of the a.m. wave.
I love the tradition of the Open as much as anyone -- it's my favourite major by far -- but I think in the interest of a little fairness they should think about using split tees for the first two days. Having such a wide range of tee times can create a good "quarter" of the draw, nevermind a good half.

[vwgolfer]

Maybe the R and A should roll back the luck.

L.O. played like the Number 1 player in the world. Plus he's got a really cute baby. Heck of a year for him so far.

[RM]

All time great performance PERIOD.

[jg]

Anyone who wins a tournament knows they had the benefit of good bounces and many other little victories not all on the course. Maybe he should be like Eldrick and have them put Schrek Oosthuizen on the trophy.

[RM]

He also had the misfortune of playing alongside Calc on Saturday watching him do his best to shoot 100. That's focus!

[Matt Aamold]

Rory's highest score ever at the Old Course was 69. The imposible winds on Friday caused him to shoot 80.

If Rory had not had the winds and had shot a 71 Rory would be the champion.

Ignore Friday's round for both players and Rory wins the open

- Louis played a great weekend,

Coulda woulda, my bet is Rory wins next year...wait it's Royal St Georges...never-mind that will be a luck draw as well :-)

[Troglodyte]

Geoff,

You're quite prescient. I thought a lot about this today prior to reading your post tonight. I just kept thinking that had this been a Tiger blowout like Augusta or Pebble Beach, the golf world would be agog over the margin of victory and wouldn't care a whit about the draw.

I don't know anything about this young man (thanks ESPN) but I know that the final day he got it done. No van de Velde, Garcia, or Harrington miscues. He did it. And he whupped the best in the world in the process. You have got to give him his due for that... forget the draw. The last two days he played in the same weather as every other reasonable contender.

No, his win is a special kind of conundrum for we sports news and hype-saturated fans. It is what it is without Nike or Tag Heuer or IMG managing an image before or after the event. it was a pure, perfect performance. And we should be happy as can be at that. He obviously didn't need a dead father commercial. He just, as they say, did it.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

If a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his butt every time he hopped.

All time great performance! I expect we will see more from Louis. Soon.

[Scott]

Louis turned a 4 shot Saturday lead into a 7 shot win. Hard to find any faults in that performance. I enjoy seeing people in control of their golf ball -- and themselves.

Maybe if Rory had played in the afternoon Thursday he shoots 69 instead of 63....

[jeff]

When did our incessant obsession with validation take root? Louis plays beautiful golf for 72 holes on The Old Course. Louis wins by 7 shots. He holds the Jug....isn't that enough.

[Dsl]

Tough one. All time great perfomances get replayed on golf channel and live on in people's imaginations. Time will tell.

The difference between this and, say, tiger's 2000 win is the type of expectation we had. Tiger was expected to win and he did- convincingly. Louis was expected to fail and he didn't. I'm biased, so it's no surprise that I side with tiger.

I'll eat my words if a grandchild asks me if I got to see Louis westhazen win at st. Andrews.

[Del the Funk]

Definitely luck of the draw was in his favor but one can't hold that against him, everyone that wins a major gets some luck during said tourney. Had he shot 73 on Friday he still would have won by one (possibly anyway, had things been tight might not have been so relaxed). A lot of luck also involved in going around the Old Course and only hitting one bunker.

And no matter if he never wins again it will and should be considered a great performance. Playing with the lead challenges a lot of great players, just ask Steve Stricker! Louis didn't flinch the whole weekend. But in order for it to be considered one of the "all-time great performances" he needs to validate.

Saw an article that said 14 players have won a major by 7-shots or more (Tiger thrice and Jack twice), only two of the 14 never won another major. So in order to avoid the lightning in a bottle stigma another major is in order, or a whole bunch of other quality wins may suffice.

[fatgoalie]

Same luck of the draw as about 1/4 of the filed.
And he beat everybody
Great performance, and like any tournament a little good fortune goes a long way

[Jock]

Should we not stop calling this a "draw" ?

[d.b.cooper]

"no van De Velde, Garcia, or Harrington miscues"

Is TOC the kind of course that can put unrelenting pressure on a player to create the opportunity for miscues?

[chico]

Jeff-YES!

[longtimegolffan]

Agree with Jeff (and chico). Louis is Champion Golfer of the Year. He played 65, 67, 69, 71. Incredible golf by any standard and at the Open - just amazing.

[Tim in Hoylake]

I think that the fact there was no aggression in the day; no bad behaviour or fist pumping or general testosterone-induced behaviour made it less of a spectacle for that segment of viewers that seek sports as a substitute for gladiatorial combat. Casey and Louis actually were sharing a joke and laughing somewhere near the 4th tee. This just ain't right; how can it be a great performance if there was no blood on the ground, no humiliation, or no goat or loser in clear view.
(I recall Tiger in 2005 was a snore-fest as well - it's Monty in hot pursuit - "Look out, he's right behind you." Not scary really.) It was all so unflailingly pleasant.

5 stroke leads will do that to any event; not gripping drama. Which in a way is appropriate, since the amount of praise heaped on the course itself (can you spell overkilll) made it the star. Enough already; it's windy, it's bumpy, and watch guys play it off the wall - we get it.

Nice work otherwise, Geoff; bet you really enjoyed watching Kaymer go bogey-bogey to drop out of 5th place to ruin your each-way bet. Nice putt, though.

[Sophist]

All time great weekend performance, that's for sure. Maybe would have been closer on Sunday had he had a later tee time on Friday, but we'll never know. I doubt it actually considering the way this guy was striking it.

Rory quit, he said so himself. Not the mark of a champion golfer, at least not this year. The conditions didn't dictate an 80.

[Press Agent]

DSL, nobody is going to ask you if you saw "Louis westhazen" win the Open at St. Andrews, because that is not his name. Hopefully you will be asked by your grandchild if you remember the old days when American golf considered itself king, before the pga tour died and the rest of the world began kicking American butt and dominating golf for years and years to come. Maybe they'll ask if you saw the open when some cry baby said the wind was too strong, and even the kids working in the sign towers were laughing at him....

Anybody that thinks this wasn't a dominating performance was not paying attention. When ESPN provides 11 hours of coverage a day, it leaves things less open to opinion. The facts were all out there spread across the links of St. Andrews, King Louis reigned supreme. They could have thrown a blizzard at him and he still would have shown the field how to play St. Andrews.

[Edgar]

He will disappear with the wind, quoth the raven.

[bruce]

He will disappear with the wind, quoth the raven. - seems to be doing well this week again. possibly the most exciting youngster around.