Louis Oosthuizen did something during his epic run at the US Open at Chambers Bay that even caught the attention of former world No1 Tiger Woods, but the South African is not sure if he is going to stick with his new style as he returns this week to the venue of his only major victory.
The 2010 Open champion was overshadowed by champion Jordan Spieth at the US open last month, but he had everyone in awe as he recovered from being nine-over par after 20 holes to not just make the cut, but eventually finish second with a blistering finish.
Woods, who was his playing partner at Chambers Bay for the first two rounds, said Oosthuizen started looking at the hole while making his putts (the copybook putting stroke is to keep your head steady and looking down at where the ball was), and also putted cross-handed.
“I’ve played a lot of golf with Louis, but I’ve never seen him look at the hole before. He was looking at the hole when he was hitting putts, and they were going in from all different distances, but I’ve never seen that before. I hadn’t seen him putt cross-handed, either. That was a double combo, putting cross-handed and looking at the hole that I hadn’t seen before,” said Woods.
And Oosthuizen agreed it was something new that he had been working on.
“We’ve been working a bit on things like that. I tried it for the first time that week, so the first one I did was early in the first round, and I hit the worst putt that you can probably imagine. And then I just kept on doing it because on the putting green it was pretty good,” explained the world No17.
“It put my stroke in positions where I wanted it, and I got more and more confident with it. I just did it on certain putts. I did it on clutch putts that I felt I needed to make. I freed my stroke a bit by doing that. I did it a lot coming into the last nine holes on Sunday, and it worked.
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“As for using it this week, like I say, if there’s a few putts that I feel more comfortable just looking at the hole, I’ll do that. But it’s not a set thing on every putt. It’s more of a feel thing really.”
Oosthuizen said he is feeling much better after a spate of back and neck injuries.
“I’m feeling 100 times better than I was in the last two years and working on things constantly to get stronger and get better. I’m managing well and happy where I am,” he added.
“I feel confident playing, so I could actually do a bit more work on the putting green and out on the range, which you need to do to be on top of your game.”
We chat to 2010 @TheOpen champ @Louis57TM about @TheHomeofGolf and the most prestigious major of them all #TheOpen https://t.co/hAT9kjDX7J
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Returning to the venue where he won his only major by a massive seven shots, was a high for Oosthuizen.
“It’s just great to be back here. The biggest buzz was Monday, walking down 18, seeing the grandstands and remembering that moment walking in 2010 on Sunday afternoon,” he said.
“I played with Branden (Grace), whose caddie Zach was working for me then, and the two of us looked at each other, smiled, and said it was great to just do that walk again and feel that bit of magic around here.”
Oosthuizen is scheduled to play the first two rounds with Woods and Jason Day.
