 Oosthuizen up by four at St. Andrews
2010-07-17 17:43:00
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sports Network) - Louis Oosthuizen has never been in this position, but he sure seems comfortable atop the leaderboard in a major. The South African, who held the second-round lead, carded a three-under 69 Saturday to complete three rounds of the British Open Championship in the lead at 15-under-par 201.
Oosthuizen claimed his first European Tour title earlier this year, but has never been near the top of the leaderboard in a major championship. The one time he had made the cut in a major before this, the 2008 PGA Championship, Oosthuizen finished in last place.
"I thought I was going to be more nervous than I was," admitted Oosthuizen. "I had so much fun out there actually."
Paul Casey posted a five-under 67 on the Old Course at St. Andrews Saturday. He finished 54 holes in second at 11-under-par 205.
Martin Kaymer is three strokes further back at minus-eight after shooting a four-under 68 in round three.
Henrik Stenson (67), Alejandro Canizares (71) and Lee Westwood (71) share fourth place at seven-under-par 209. Stenson and Canizares both had to return to the course earlier Saturday to complete their second rounds.
Tiger Woods, a two-time British Open winner at St. Andrews, shot a one-over 73 and is tied for 18th at minus-three.
World No. 2 Phil Mickelson managed a two-under 70 to move into a share of 26th at two-under-par 214.
Defending champion Stewart Cink carded an even-par 71 and is tied for 38th at minus-one.
They are all chasing Oosthuizen, who was the 54-hole leader twice this year on the European Tour.
Back in March, he led after three rounds in back-to-back tournaments. In the first event, the Hassan II Golf Trophy, Rhys Davies flew past him for the victory.
However, Oosthuizen came back the next week with a final-round 67 at the Open de Andalucia to earn his first European Tour title.
Oosthuizen tripped to a three-putt bogey on the first and his five-stroke lead to start the round was suddenly three, as Stenson was making a charge.
The 27-year-old Oosthuizen settled in with five straight pars from the second. For the third time in three days, Oosthuizen birdied the par-four seventh. That moved his lead back to two after Casey birdied the seventh ahead of him to get within one.
Casey got to 11-under with a two-putt birdie on No. 9, then Oosthuizen followed with a two-putt birdie of his own to move to minus-13.
"The wind being that strong, the front nine especially, I like working my shots and it worked out right," said Oosthuizen of the conditions on the front nine. "My birdie on seven just got me going. I felt like I swung it really well all day and probably left a few more birdies out there."
No one got any closer on the back nine than Casey did on the seventh and ninth. Oosthuizen parred the first six holes of the back nine to maintain his two-stroke lead.
Finally, on the 16th, Oosthuizen ran home a long birdie effort to push his lead to three.
Meanwhile, Casey failed to make a single birdie on the back nine. He closed with nine straight pars to get in at 11-under.
Oosthuizen drove the green at the last and two-putted for a closing birdie to extend his lead to four strokes.
"I couldn't wait to get to the back nine because I knew there was actually more birdie chances out there than the front nine today," Oosthuizen said. "But there's a lot of holes left and Paul played beautiful today, I was watching him from the fairways the whole time making putts."
The South African has won five times on his home tour, the Sunshine Tour, and was victorious for the first time earlier this year on the European Tour.
However, this is uncharted territory in the major championships for Oosthuizen.
Casey was the lone player to post a bogey-free round on Saturday.
"I didn't know what to expect, but it was always going to be a tough front nine," Casey stated. "I made my score in what seemed to be the tough kind of wind, in from the left going out. Then I struggled in the easier wind, which was down off the right coming in."
NOTES: No one in the top-seven on the leaderboard has won a major and among the top 17, only two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen has won a major championship...Goosen is tied for eighth at minus-five...The second round was completed earlier Saturday after there was a 66-minute delay due to strong wind on Friday...Dustin Johnson (69) is the top American on the leaderboard, as he stands alone in seventh at minus-six...The last time there was an Open Championship with no Americans in the top five was 1969.
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