Sunday, January 09, 2011

OOSTHUIZEN WINS AFRICA OPEN AFTER THREE-MAN PLAY-OFF

Open champion Louis Oosthuizen from South Africa scored his first win since his shock victory at  St Andrews in July when he birdied the first play-off hole to win the Africa Open and deny England's Chris Wood and Spain's Manuel Quiros a maiden European Tour title today.
Motherwell's Steven O'Hara set the clubhouse target with a sparkling seven-under-par closing round of 66 for 15-under-par 277. When the Scot finished, there was just a chance that his total would hold up against all-comers.
But Oosthuizen, Wood and Quiros tied for the pole position after 72 holes at 16 under par at East London Golf Club after an enthralling last round which saw no fewer than seven different leaders on the final day.
FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE:
Playing the 18th as the first extra hole it was Oosthuizen who looked to be in trouble off the tee as he hooked left, but after finding a fortunate lie he showed the class that made him Open Champion to fire his approach to eight feet.
And when Quiros narrowly failed to chip in form the fringe and Wood fractionally missed his 25ft birdie effort, Oosthuizen calmly holed for a third European Tour title.
Oosthuizen had led overnight along with Austrian Markus Brier, and it was his playing partner who stormed out of the blocks with three consecutive birdies.
But a lost ball on the sixth saw Brier bogey and he never really recovered.
As Oosthuizen continued plugging away, Wood set the clubhouse benchmark with a round of 68.
With clear skies and little wind low scoring always looked likely, but nobody managed to match Wood’s effort until Quiros birdied the last three for a round of 69.
Oosthuizen drew level with an eagle on the 15th, and had to match only one of Quiros’ three late birdies for victory.
But he parred the 16th, 17th and 18th to set up a dramatic 73rd hole.
Steven O’Hara earned 41,933 Euros for finishing joint fourth, level with defending champion Charl Schwartzel and another South African, Jaco Van Zyl, on 14 under.
"The whole day was a bit of a struggle," Oosthuizen said. "I didn't get anything in the hole and made that putt on 15 which helped.
"Then I made this one (in the play-off ) which was nice. I hit a terrible tee shot and then hit a full go sand-wedge to get close. Then I made the putt, it was great."
Reflecting on his start to the year, Oosthuizen conceded he would need to improve on his putting going forward.
He said: "It's been one of those weeks where the putter was very cold, but my caddie kept me calm and said it would go in eventually.
"So I kept on trying and made that nice one on the last which I will remember."
As for his debut in the tournament where he picked up the €158,500 top prize, he added: "It's always nice playing in South Africa and you want to perform.
"This week there was a great field here and playing with Retief (Goosen) and (Darren) Clarke was really special. If you look at the leaderboard there were just big names up there so I think it was a great tournament."


STEVEN O'HARA EARNS £35,000 FOR JT 4TH FINISH 

SCOTSWATCH. Steven O'Hara had a bogey-free round for his 66 (34-32, birdieing the first, third, eighth, 10th, 11th, 13th and 14th. He told Martin Dempster of "The Scotsman" later:
"It's a very positive start to the season. In the first two rounds I was a wee bit rusty and dropped a few daft shots. But yesterday and today I played very solid," said O'Hara, who picked up a cheque for almost £35,000 to put himself in 15th position in the early Race to Dubai standings.
"I worked hard over the winter, especially on my putting, and it's good to see a result from that. I was very close to getting into the play-off which is very encouraging. I let a couple of putts go coming down the stretch after looking at the leaderboard on 16. It was the worst thing I could have done.
"I tried not to look but saw it out of the corner of my eye and saw I was up the top. I had been attacking everything up to that point then backed off a wee bit.
"That was daft and I am angry with myself for doing that. But other than that I enjoyed it and it was good to get a wee bit sun on my back."
O'Hara, who just held on to his card after finishing 113th on the money-list at the end of last year, added: "I am playing next week in the Joburg Open and I will go into it with a bit of confidence. Hopefully, I can stop the bad mistakes that were caused by rustiness.
"My putting was good which is encouraging. I was close to my first win. I have got to keep giving myself chances and at least I did that."
Elliot Saltman, after being almost in contention over the first 36 holes, drifted down over the weekend rounds. He finished with a 72 which had birdies at the second, third, 12th, 15th and 16th but a double bogey at the ninth and bogeys at the eigthth and 17th in halves of 38 and 34.
Alastair Forsyth was three under par after an eagle at the first and a birdie at the fourth but he bogeyted the fourth and ninth and cancelled out only one of them with a birdie at the seventh.
Out in two-under 35, Forsyth got to four under with birdies at the 11th and 13yth but he bogeyed the 14th and 16th and got a birdie at the 15th in 35 home.
Lloyd Saltman was also out in two-under 35 withy birdies at the third, fifth and ninth and only one shot shed, at the ninth.
But Lloyd had a bad run early on the inward half, bogeying the 10th and running up a triple bogey 7 at the 12th. Possibly shell-shocked after that, the Lothians man had to settle for six pars over the last six holes for 40 home.
Marc Warren birdied the first, third, eighth,. 12th, 13th and 17th but he almost as many mistakes. He had back-to-back double bogey 6s at the fourth and fifth and shed another shot at the seventh in 39 (two over) to the turn.
Another bogey at the 11th but he did have a good run of birdies at the 12th, 13th and 17th before he bogeyed the last for 35 home.
 FINAL TOTALS AND PRIZE MONEY
Players from S Africa unless stated. Prize money in Euros
Par 292 (4x73)
1 OOSTHUIZEN Louis  67 69 70 276 (€158,500) won play-off at first extra hole.
T2 QUIROS Manuel (Spain) 71 68 68 69 276  (92,100)
T2 WOOD Chris (England) 72 69 67 68 276 (92,100)
T4 O'HARA Steven (Scotland) 72 71 68 66 277 (41,933)
T4 SCHWARTZEL Charl 69 70 68 70 277 (41,933)
T4 VAN ZYL Jaco 67 70 70 70 277 41,933
7 DINWIDDIE Robert (England) 69 74 66 69 278 (29,500).
T8 BRIER Markus (Austria) 70 66 70 73 279 (19,350).
T8 GRACE Branden 67 69 72 71 279 (19,350)
T8 JOHANSEN Eirik Tage (Norway) 71 71 70 67 279 (19,350).
T8 KRUGER Jbe 68 72 67 72 279 (19,350)
T8 NORRIS Shaun 70 73 70 66 279 (19,350).
T8 TUNNICLIFF Miles (England) 67 69 72 71 279 (19,350).
T14 AIKEN Thomas 69 72 68 71 280 (13,950).
T14 BEKKER Oliver 69 71 69 71 280 (13,950).
T14 DEL MORAL Carlos (Spain) 70 70 69 71 280 (13,950).
T14 NIXON Matthew (England) 71 74 68 67 280 (13,950).
T18 MARSHALL Andrew (England) 71 72 69 69 281 (12,233).
T18 McGOWAN Ross (England) 68 69 71 73 281 (12,233).
T18 SCHIETEKAT Neil 74 70 68 69 281 12,233).
T21 HORNE Keith 71 70 69 72 282 (11,250).,
T21 ORMSBY Wade (Australia) 69 73 69 71 282 (11,250).
23 McGUIGAN Doug 68 75 70 70 283 (10,500).
T23 SALTMAN Elliot (Scotland) 67 71 73 72 283 (10,500).
T23 VAN DEN HEEVER Divan 71 71 70 71 283 (10,500).
T26 CLARKE Darren (N Ireland) 69 75 72 68 284 (8,700).
T26 DA SILVA Adilson (Brazil) 74 69 71 70 284 (8,700).
T26 FISHER junior Trevor 69 72 71 72 284 (8,700).
T26 GONNET Jean-Baptiste (France) 67 74 72 71 284 (8,700).
T26 HEND Scott (Australia) 76 70 72 66 284 (8,700).
T26 KINGSTON James 72 72 73 67 284 (8,700).
T26 KORHONEN Mikko (Finland) 71 72 70 71 284 (8,700).
T26 OHLSSON Fredrik (Sweden) 67 72 72 73 284 (8,700).
T26 VAN ASWEGEN Tyrone 70 71 71 72 284 (8,700).
T26 VAN DER WALT Tjaa 70 74 69 71 284 (8,700).
T36 ABERY Warren 69 73 68 75 285 (7,400).
T36 MARITZ Martin 69 74 69 73 285 (7,400).
T38 DE JAGER Louis 72 71 73 70 286 (6,700).
T38 GAGLI Lorenzo 73 70 75 68 286 (6,700).
T38 GAUNT Daniel (Australia) 74 71 68 73 286 (6,700)
T38 MAYBIN Gareth (N Ireland) 71 73 71 71 286 (6,700).
T38 SLUITER Tim (Netherlands) 72 73 70 71 286 (6,700).
43 GREENE Daniel 70 72 72 73 287 (6,100).
T44 McIntyre P H 74 72 72 70 288 (5,700).
T44 VAUGHAN Bradford 70 73 71 74 288 (5,700).
T44 WIESBERGER Bernd (Austria) 73 73 71 71 288 (5,700).
T47 FORSYTH Alastair (Scotland) 70 76 72 71 289 (5,000).
T47 HEBERT Benjamin (France) 74 69 70 76 289 (5,000).
T47 RUIZ Marco (Paraguay) 72 73 71 73 289 (5,000).
T47 SANDELIN Jarmo (Sweden) 71 75 73 70 289 (5,000).
T51 ELSON Jamie (England) 76 69 74 71 290 (4,100).
T51 HUGO Jean 74 72 74 70 290 (4,100).
T51 HUTSBY Sam (England) 74 70 73 73 290 (4,100).
T51 ROCK Robert (England) 68 75 74 73 290 (4,100).
T51 SIMON Thabang 68 76 72 74 290 (4,100).
T56 COETZEE Charl 75 70 73 73 291 (3,220).
T56 O'RILEY Dean 70 74 72 75 291 (3,220).
T56 PAPPAS Deane 73 70 73 75 291 (3,220).
T56 SALTMAN Lloyd (Scotland) 68 76 72 75 291 (3,220).
T56 VANCSIK Daniel (Argentina) 71 73 78 69 291 (3,220).
T61 CARRANZA Clodomiro (Argentina) 71 73 72 76 292 (2,750).
T61 FORD Adrian 72 74 75 71 292 (2,750).
T61 TIPPING Ryan 73 72 71 76 292 (2,750).
T61 WARREN Marc (Scotland) 71 75 72 74 292 (2,750).
T65 KAMTE James 72 71 76 74 293 (2,350).
T65 LEWTON Steve (England) 71 74 70 78 293 (2,350).
T65 PIETERS Brandon 66 77 76 74 293 (2,350).
T65 ROOS Jake 74 72 72 75 293 (2,350).
T69 HAINDL Alex 70 72 76 76 294 (2,050).
T69 SCHWARTZEL Atti 76 70 76 72 294 (2,050).
71 COETZEE George 71 75 75 74 295 (1,500).

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