South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen led The European Tour challenge at the US Open, ultimately finishing one shot adrift of winner Jordan Spieth despite a record-breaking performance on a dramatic final day at Chambers Bay.
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The 2010 Open Championship winner had opened with a forgettable seven over par 77 in the first round but recovered with back to back rounds of 66 before an astonishing charge on the final day saw him equal the lowest back nine in US Open history with a spectacular 29 to sign for 67 and a four under par total of 276.
“It was nice being in that spot again,” said Oosthuizen who moves to third in The Race to Dubai after finishing level with Dustin Johnson who missed his chance of glory after three-putting the last. “I felt very relaxed and was eager to get to the next hole and get some birdies going. I wasn’t nervous at all. I’ll take a lot out of this week, especially the last three days, the way I played.”
Plenty of great performances on the final day – Louis Oosthuizen provided one of the best. #SSNHQ pic.twitter.com/ewaHvqxDl7
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) June 22, 2015
The strong South African contingent proved to be fine ambassadors for The European Tour in Washington with Oosthuizen’s compatriots Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel also in the hunt.
Grace shared the lead with Spieth, Johnson and Jason Day heading into the final round before a closing 71 left him in a share for fourth place with Australian pair Adam Scott and Cameron Smith on three under par 277. Grace would have forced a play-off with Spieth but for a double bogey on 16, where he hit his tee shot out of bounds.
“I thought I played well, I thought I handled myself well,” said Grace, who moves to fourth in The Race to Dubai. “I gave myself the opportunity to actually have a chance to win it and just one bad swing cost me in the end.”
Schwartzel, meanwhile, left himself with just a little too much to do after opening his account with rounds of 73 and 70 over the first two days – finishing one shot behind Grace in seventh place on his own after valiant weekend rounds of 69 and 66.
Hard week, but glad that I played some better golf.
— Charl Schwartzel (@CA_Schwartzel) June 22, 2015
Schwartzel moves to 15th in The Race to Dubai while rankings leader, World Number One Rory McIlroy, retains top spot after a tough week ended encouragingly with a closing 66 that saw him climb into a share of ninth place with Shane Lowry, who moves to 23rd on the table.
With five months to go until The Race to Dubai reaches its climax at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates from Thursday November 19 to Sunday November 22, places in The European Tour’s season-ending finale, open only to the top 60 available players, are already filling up fast.
Nick Tarratt, Director of The European Tour, International Dubai Office, said: “It is impressive to see the field for the DP World Tour Championship taking shape.
Traditionally 550,000 points gains qualification for the season-ending tournament to be held on Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
“If this is the mark this year we already have an exceptional field that includes former DP World Tour Championship and Race to Dubai double winners Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and defending champion Henrik Stenson, as well as11 winners of 16 events on the 2015 European Tour’s International Schedule.
“With 22 qualifying tournaments to go to the DP World Tour Championship until the field is confirmed after the BMW Masters in China, ending on Sunday November 15, we are all excited with the assembled field to date.”
