IT'S SOUTH AFRICA'S DAY!

Oosthuizen wins Open by 8 shots

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Louis Oosthuizen marked Nelson Mandela Day in exactly the way he dreamed of - by becoming only the fourth South African ever to win The Open Championship.
The 27 year old did it at the venue every player wants to most, the Home of Golf at St Andrews, and he did it by lapping the field as he finished the week with a seven-shot gap.
Oosthuizen, pictured left, had no need to get too animated as he turned his four-shot overnight lead into an almost unbelievable seven-stroke triumph over Lee Westwood.
Paul Casey, triple bogeyed the 12th and by coming home in 40 for a 75, slipped to joint third with 21 year old Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and Swede Henrik Stenson - Retief Goosen ensuring all of the top six were European Tour Members.
Since 1913 there has been only one bigger victory in the event - Tiger Woods by eight over the same Old Course ten years ago.
And this from a 200-1 outsider who had missed the halfway cut in seven of his previous eight Majors and came last in the other.
With a closing 71 and a 16 under par total of 272, three more than Woods in 2000, he followed in the footsteps of Bobby Locke, Gary Player - four and three-time winners respectively - and 2002 champion Ernie Els, whose Foundation gave him his career lift-off as a teenager.
His first Major title earned him €1,011,840 and moves him up to 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
"It's unbelievable - just amazing," said Oosthuizen. "It's probably going to hit me tomorrow or the week after. I felt like I played well all week and the biggest goal for me was to stay cool.
"I'd like to have kept the record of not going in the bunker (like Woods in 2000), but I went in one on the 14th.
"It became a bit difficult having a big lead, but I'm glad I had all those shots in hand on the 17th."
As he stepped from the last green as the newly crowned Open champion Oosthuizen said: “My biggest goal this week was to keep calm. It became very difficult after the 12th hole on the back nine with an eight shot lead, but I was glad of those eight shots at the 17th. I cramped up a bit. But that was unbelievable.”
Later he added: “I felt I needed something to get me going and the eagle was the thing that did it. During the final round I made good putts when I had to and rarely missed anything under six feet, but it was much tighter than it looked until that 12th hole.”
The last hole still held its dramas. “Coming down the 18th I didn’t want to hit driver and thought about the three-iron, but that might have bounced on the road and finished anywhere. It was amazing when I saw the ball hit the fairway.”
Of the great breakthrough in his career he said: “Everyone told me it was just a matter of me believing in myself and my first win on the European Tour really helped. But to win an Open is special. To win at St Andrews is extra special.”
The new champion secured his first win on the European Tour earlier this year in the Open de Andalucia, but had won four times in his home country, including a successful defence of the South African PGA title in 2008. He had failed to make the cut in three previous Open appearances at Troon, Hoylake and Turnberry, and had also failed to progress in the US Open and Masters.
The 27-year-old lives on a farm next door to his parents in Gouritz River, South Africa, and also has a home in Manchester.
He was a graduate of the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation which gives financial assistance, playing, practice and coaching help to young players, and he was the first from that programme to play in the Masters. He represented South Africa at boys, youths and adult levels and he is now putting something back into the game by starting his own junior golf academy.
I NEED TO IMPROVE, SAYS RUNNER-UP LEE WESTWOOD
Ltt Westwood, who lost by one after a closing bogey at Turnberry last year and was runner-up to Phil Mickelson at The Masters Tournament in April, is not going to beat himself up too much over this one.
"I know what I've got to do - improve," he said after his 70 gave him a top three or four finish in his last four Majors..
"I'm showing a lot of consistency, but it's not quite good enough. I'm not sure what it is quite. I keep putting myself in position and in contention - that's all I can do.
"I didn't get off to a quick enough start today. I thought if I could turn in five under anything was possible, but it was difficult out there.
"The pin positions were tough. This is not an easy course when there's a 20mph wind blowing. And Louis is obviously playing really well."
Casey will probably spend more time than his Ryder Cup teammate thinking what might have been - and so will McIlroy after starting with a Major Championship record-equalling 63 and following it with an 80 in Friday's 40mph gusts.
The youngster came back with rounds of 69 and 68, but the damage had been done.
After a superb approach to five feet on the first, Casey missed the chance to cut the gap instantly to three.
He then came up short of the second green and, after chipping 20 feet past, bogeyed to fall five back.
Meanwhile, Oosthuizen showed no sign of frailty as he calmly parred the first five holes.
However, although he added another at the next, Casey birdied from four feet and when the leader failed to get up and down from just off the green at the short eighth the difference was down to three.
Both drove the green on the 352 yard ninth, but when Oosthuizen holed from over 40 feet for an eagle two the tournament was back in his firm grip.
With Casey making birdie it was still between the two of them, but even with The Road Hole 17th to come the outcome was effectively decided by the 348 yard 12th, innocuous by comparison.
Oosthuizen reduced it to a drive, a pitch and a 15 foot birdie putt. Casey, on the other hand, went in gorse, took a penalty drop, was short in three, long in four and with a 7  his Claret Jug hopes were buried barring a total collapse from the man he was playing with.
It was his second triple bogey of the week. The other, at the 17th in round two, was one he could come back from - this one will stick far longer in the memory.
Oosthuizen's only mistake on the back nine came when it did not matter, a 5 at the 17th.


OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
272 Louis Oosthuizen (S Africa) 65 67 69 71 (£850,000).
279 Lee Westwood 67 71 71 70 (£500,000).
280 Rory McIlroy 63 80 69 68, Paul Casey 69 69 67 75, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 74 67 71 (£256,666 each).
281 Retief Goosen (S Africa) 69 70 72 70 (£175,000).
282 Nick Watney (USA) 67 73 71 71, Robert Rock 68 78 67 69, Sean O'Hair (USA) 67 72 72 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 71 68 74 (£97,000 each).
283 Jeff Overton (USA) 73 69 72 69, Luke Donald 73 72 69 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 70 74 67 (£81,400 each).
284 Charl Schwartzel (S Africa) 71 75 68 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 71 70 72, Tom Lehman (USA) 71 68 75 70, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 69 71 72 72, Dustin Johnson (USA) 69 72 69 74, J.B. Holmes (USA) 70 72 70 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71 73 71, Rickie Fowler (USA) 79 67 71 67 (£57,125 each), Jin Jeong (SKor) (amateur silver medal winner) 69 72 69 74.
285 Tiger Woods (USA) 67 73 73 72, Stephen Gallacher 71 73 70 71, Graeme McDowell 71 68 76 70, Trevor Immelman (S Africa) 68 74 75 68
286 Adam Scott (Aus) 72 70 72 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 75 74 70, Matt Kuchar (USA) 72 74 71 69, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 68 73 75 70, Kevin Na (USA) 70 74 70 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 69 75 71 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 67 74 73, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 67 71 71 77, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 76 73 68, Bradley Dredge 66 76 74 70
287 Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 73 74 74, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 74 70 71, Hunter Mahan (USA) 69 76 71 71, Colm Moriarty 72 73 72 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 73 76 70, Ross Fisher 68 77 68 74, Shane Lowry 68 73 71 75
288 Ricky Barnes (USA) 68 71 72 77, Bo Van Pelt (USA) 69 72 73 74, Camilo Villegas (Col) 68 75 70 75, Darren Clarke 70 70 77 71
289 Phil Mickelson (USA) 73 71 70 75, (USA) John Daly 66 76 74 73, Lucas Glover (USA) 67 76 70 76, John Senden (Aus) 68 76 73 72, Stewart Cink (USA) 70 74 71 74, Simon Dyson 69 75 73 72, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 70 74 73 72
290 Steve Stricker (USA) 71 74 71 74, Steve Marino (USA) 69 76 69 76, Zane Scotland 70 74 72 74, Danny Chia (Mal) 69 77 74 70, Simon Khan 74 69 73 74
291 Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71 72 75, Ian Poulter 71 73 76 71, Tom Pernice junior. (USA) 72 74 71 74, Heath Slocum (USA) 71 74 73 73, Peter Senior (Aus) 73 71 74 73, Y.E. Yang (SKor) 67 74 76 74, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 70 70 77 74, Jason Day (Aus) 71 74 75 71
292 Hirofumi Miyase (Jpn) 71 75 73 73, Colin Montgomerie 74 71 74 73, Steven Tiley 66 79 73 74, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 67 74 73 78
293 Andrew Coltart 66 77 74 76
294 Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70 67 77 80
295 Thomas Aiken (S Africa) 71 73 77 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 73 73 76 73
296 Zach Johnson (USA) 72 74 74 76, Scott Verplank (USA) 72 73 74 77

+The Open championship is one of the few pro tournaments in the world where every competitor receives a cash award, whether they made the halfway cut or not. The minimum amount paid to a player was £2,250.

Jin Jeong completes Amater title and Open amateur medal double

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By OLIVER BROWN at St Andrews
The endearingly unassuming Jin Jeong, who captured the Silver Medal as the Open’s leading amateur, has the unusual practice of using his coach as his caddie.
Australian Trevor Flakeman could hardly have looked prouder to be on the bag, hugging his young Korean student as they celebrated an eagle 2 at the last after he had driven the green.
Flakeman, the head professional at Waverly golf club in Melbourne, has also been moonlighting as Jeong’s dietitian for the week. “I tried to eat black pudding,” the 20 year-old said after the most mature 72.
“That was quite tough. I like fish and chips, but haggis came out the other day for breakfast. My coach says, ‘Don’t try it,’ so I didn’t.”
Jeong was a picture of wide-eyed wonderment in trying to grasp the significance of this moment. He has grown accustomed to being acclaimed as a prodigy, after becoming the first Asian winner in 125 years of the Amateur Championship at Muirfield last month, but a symbolic prize at the Home of Golf was almost too much to take in.
Asked if he could believe he was the leading Asian player at St Andrews, eclipsing such renowned compatriots as KJ Choi and YE Yang, Jeong replied: “It’s hard to believe I’m here. It was a dream come true. I played the Open at St Andrews, played well and finished with an eagle — I don’t think I can forget that.”
It is four years since Jeong’s family transplanted themselves to Australia, and the breezy conditions on the Melbourne coast appear to have ensured junior’s passion for links golf.
Curiously, on the parkland layout of Loch Lomond this month he was clueless, missing the cut at 16 under par, but the memories of Muirfield — where he beat Banchory’s James Byrne 5 and 4 in the amateur final — set him up perfectly for the fast-running Old Course, where he performed serenely all week.
The wisecracking of Flakeman had, he explained, helped to relax him at any stressful points. But competitively, the tension evaporated when all his rivals for the top amateur prize fell at the halfway stage.
As the first Korean winner of the Silver Medal, Jeong confirmed that he would retain his amateur status at least until next year’s Masters.
“I was going to turn pro this year, but I won the British Amateur, so now I can play at Augusta,” he said. “So I’ll probably stay amateur until then. I want to play in the United States.”
Jeong’s pursuit of American ambitions can wait. His accomplishment on the Fife fairways guarantees he will be lauded as a celebrity in South Korea, where golf has been treated with the utmost gravity since Yang beat Tiger Woods in a final-round duel at the US PGA in 2008.
Still, he had one regret. If his Open breakthrough had earned him money, his father would have taken a week off from running the family’s construction company.




Poulter clashes with a heckler - and then a security guard

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
Ian Poulter finished his Open Championship seven hours earlier than he had hoped today - not wanting to say anything more about his Saturday clash with a heckler and then a security guard.
"Idiots - I guess it's the sort of thing that happens every now and again," commented Poulter after teeing off in the second group of the day at 7.35am and ending the week three over par following a 71 at St Andrews.
The world No 8 claimed to have had a "personal and inappropriate" comment made to him as he walked back to the players' lounge and then found himself confronted by the guard.
Poulter said the man wanted him "out of my space" and they had a long exchange of words.
Police nearby wanted to know what was going on, but decided there was no need for further investigation and the Royal and Ancient Club, who run The Open, said that with no complaint made they would not get involved.
As for his performance at the Home of Golf, Poulter, runner-up to Padraig Harrington at Birkdale two years ago, said: "I just didn't hole any putts. That's it in a nutshell."

My last Open at St Andrews, says Monty (he'll be 52 in 2015)
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie joked that he should walk the plank for his performances in the Open. The 47-year-old Scot shot a final-round 73 to finish four over for the 139th edition of the tournament and with the event scheduled to return to the Home of Golf for another five years he admits it could be his last on the famous Old Course.
"I'll never pause on the bridge - that is only for winners," said the eight-time European number one, whose best Open performance came at St Andrews five years ago when he was second to Tiger Woods. "There is sort of a plank on the right-hand side and I should walk across that and not use the bridge."
He added: "This will probably be my last Open here as I'll be 52 when it comes back here in 2015.
"Having to go down to Sunningdale and qualify at 52 would be a better effort than doing it at 47 (as he did this year for a 21st successive Open appearance).
"That is my fifth Open here and I've enjoyed them all and I look forward to playing next year down at Royal St George's."
Montgomerie was hugely disappointed with his display this week, blaming his putting for most, if not all, his problems.
"My performance doesn't take long to analyse. I didn't putt well," he said. "I'm getting fearful on the greens - why I don't know because I'm hitting the ball as hard as I used to but the ball is not going in.
"The belly putter (he turned to for his opening round) was lucky it lasted a day. It doesn't matter what implement is used, it unfortunately is the person using it who is to blame.
"To play four days is always important but it is disappointing I never competed or contended here in any shape or form."

DATES AND VENUES FOR THE NEXT THREE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

2011 (July 14 to 17) - Royal St George's Golf Club, Sandwich, Kent.

2012 (July 19 to 22) Royal Lytham and St Annes, Lancashire.

2013 (July 18 to 21) Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Muirfield, Gullane, East Lothian.