South African Oosthuizen wins British Open Golf Championship

July 21 - Coming into the 150th anniversary edition of the British Open Golf Championship as a barely known name, Louis Oosthuizen from South Africa won the event and is unlikely to be forgotten again.

The 27 year old South African who only had one European Tour win under his belt, seemed to have no trouble playing through one of the worst weather weeks ever at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

At one stage during the course of the day, Ootshuizen's nearest pursuer, Paul Casey got within three strokes of him, however Oosthuizen was not prepared to accept that and in the end he won by an impressive seven strokes.

Casey did not hold back on the praise for his competitor. "Even if you take away the mistakes I made, the couple of sevens I've had this week, I don't think it was good enough to get near Louis," he said. He continued: "I am disappointed, but Louis played four days of tremendous golf...that was a world class performance."

Oosthuizen was ranked 54th in the world and he had never finished better than 73rd in a major golf event. The betting shops took all of this into account when they gave him odds of 200 to 1.

However Oosthuizen said that "everyone around me has been telling me I could do it. It was just a matter of me believing it."

Believe it he did and just as everyone had been telling him he could, Oosthuizen beat the tremendous odds against him and, according to the world of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, he became 'champion golfer of the year.'

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