South Africa’s leading golfer is primed to make another run at the Majors in 2022, writes GARY LEMKE.
For all those still wondering, the answer is ‘yes’. Louis Oosthuizen really is as laid-back in ‘real life’ as he looks on the golf course. South Africa’s top-ranked golfer – he finished 2021 at No 10 in the world, his best end-of-year position since 2012 when he was at No 6 – is now back at his base in the US as he awaits what 2022 has in store for him.
He is fresh from the longest competitive break he has ever had from the game, last teeing up at the RSM Classic in November, when he withdrew due to a bad back. And, although his return to his Florida home was delayed due to a bout of Covid, the 39-year-old really enjoyed his time back on his farm in Albertinia. The last available South African census (2011) revealed that the southern Cape dorp had a population of 6,372. The Oosthuizen family would have nudged those figures up by five over the end of December and during January.
‘I deliberately didn’t bring my golf clubs over with me because we were supposed to be here for only three and a half weeks. We didn’t come home in 2020 because of the Covid-19 lockdowns so I made the decision to not bring my clubs. I just wanted to spend time with family and friends. So, I’m not exaggerating when I say I have no idea what shape my game will be in when I start up again on the PGA Tour. I feel fine, though, and the body feels fine.
‘It’s been two months since I played, but I needed the break. There was a tweak in my back in November and I felt I needed a proper rest. I was supposed to start my season at Torrey Pines at the Farmers Insurance Open but our flights had to be rearranged due to picking up Covid, so we stayed in South Africa longer than expected. Not that I was complaining, but it looks like February’s Waste Management Phoenix Open might be where I return.’
Oosthuizen gives himself an 8/10 for a season which saw him with six top-10 finishes on Tour, with two more runner-up spots at Majors – the US Open and PGA Championship – taking his career total of bridesmaid finishes to six. A 9 or 10 out of 10 would have been getting one of those Majors.
The South African claimed his first and so far only Major win at the 2010 Open Championship, but he has a remarkably consistent record at Majors. He’s finished second at The Masters (2012), The PGA Championship (2017 and 2021), the US Open (2015 and 2021) and was beaten in a playoff at the 2015 Open. He also has a third at the US Open (2020) and The Open (2021).
He readily admits that at his age, the season is all about performing well at the Majors. ‘My whole goal is to get my game as sharp as possible in the weeks heading into the Majors, get myself as ready as possible. Last year I did that and it showed that what I and my whole team are working on is keeping us on the right path. I’m now pushing 40 and if I want to play competitively at the Majors over the next four to five years, I’ve got to have myself ready in those weeks leading into them.
‘I’m excited about the next few years. It was a bonus finishing last year in the top 10, but the hard work continues in staying there and being competitive over the season. So, the season is all about the Majors and then a handful of tournaments where I like the course and feel like I can play well. I use other tournaments largely as preparation, although that’s not to say I’m not prepared for them, but it’s more getting ready for the Major tournaments. It works for me and I’m going to try to do even better this year.’
When he finished tie-second at the 2017 PGA Championship, two shots behind Justin Thomas, he almost broke the internet with his lip-syncing of ‘Rise Up’ on his private flight home, having completed the ‘career Grand Slam’ of runner-up places at Majors. Surely he has dwelt on those near-misses? One shot here, one shot there, what might have been?
‘I suppose I have dwelt on a couple of them, but generally speaking I’ve quickly moved on. In a few of them I played really well to finish second. When I think of finishing one shot behind Jordan Spieth at the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay, I played out of my socks in the last 54 holes. It was tight in the end, but it wasn’t really tight. I shot 77 in the first round and then 66, 67 and 67 in the last three rounds. I shot 29 on the back nine in the last round to finish second.’ His last 54 holes were played in 190, the lowest in US Open history.
‘In 2015 at St Andrews, I made a few mistakes, there was that one errant putt in the playoff on the Road Hole [17th] when I three-putted. There are lots of things you can go back and dwell on, the one shot here, one shot there. But it’s not something I tend to do.
‘Last year at The Open I didn’t play well in the final round [he shot 71 to finish tie-third]. I just didn’t feel comfortable, and was leaking shots to the right, I couldn’t find a rhythm, but thought I did well to hang in there. There are some rounds where you can feel it’s just not going to happen. You always need a good last round to win a Major.
‘I thought Torrey Pines [venue of the 2021 US Open] was the best I’ve played in a while. It’s a really tough golf course, which I love. But, the way Jon Rahm finished with a 67 to beat me by one shot … well, there’s not much you can do about that. We could go through each “second place” and I could say I could have done better here and there, but so too can the other guys. I just try to take a lot of positives out of those weeks and know my game is on the right track.’
But, as this year’s first Major marks 10 years since he lost to a Bubba Watson wonder shot on the 2nd hole of the two-man sudden-death playoff at Augusta, Oosthuizen still pauses to reflect. He’s now 39 but it was hard to take for a then 29-year-old.
‘It was a grim day in 2012, make no mistake. The days after, knowing I’d got so close … it would have been so special because Charl [Schwartzel] would have given me the Green Jacket. The two of us grew up together … so I went through a lot of things for a couple of days.’
Still, Oosthuizen will tee up this year at Augusta as one of the favourites, again. ‘The one nice thing with Augusta National is you start off all over and learn how to play it. The more you play the course the more comfortable you become. You have to be on your game and have a sharp short game. On those last nine holes, anything can happen. If you can get within four or five shots into the back nine on the Sunday you’ve got a shot. That’s my goal, get close to leaders playing the last nine, then you can be more aggressive.’
Key to Augusta is that short game and how well you position your ball on the greens. ‘You know, I said to my brother that I’ll put his ball in the middle of each green, at tournament speed, and we’d putt towards Sunday’s pins. My brother is a 6- or 7-handicap. I said to him I’d be very surprised if he shoots under 90.
‘There’s that knowledge you need about what the greens will do. Certain times you think you will be fine, then you putt and find yourself six, seven feet away from the pin. People don’t see that on TV. Once there, “live”, you can see what we deal with. It’s a real second-shot golf course!’
Speaking about ‘live’, the king of swing joined the chorus of those welcoming the return of crowds after the Covid-19 restrictions on fans and confirmed what us couch potatoes thought, but perhaps didn’t know for certain.
‘It was very weird in the beginning. The 2020 PGA Championship in San Francisco was the first Major back without a crowd. It was just the strangest thing. The same thing a month later for the US Open at Winged Foot.
‘Playing at Augusta without a crowd was even worse. At the end of a tournament, on that Sunday back nine, it has a massive effect on us. That’s why we play. We play to get the adrenaline going and to be tested under pressure in the stress environment of trying to win a Major championship. It’s great to see everyone back. As golfers we need the fans and crowds and, equally, the fans need it. They need to be able to get out on to the golf course.’
Oosthuizen has always been something of a fans’ favourite – and it’s not simply because of that dreamy swing that is widely considered to be the best in the game. ‘It might look like there’s nothing wrong with the swing at times, but that’s not always the case,’ he laughs. ‘I can feel if there’s something not right, although maybe you can’t really see it with the naked eye in the moment!’
Holiday over, the South African is just hoping for more of the same in 2022. And that includes spending time at the 86-acre ranch he bought in Ocala, Florida, last June. ‘There were no special birthday presents for me,’ he says. ‘There were no new toys from Santa. Just coming back to South Africa in December and January with the family was the biggest present I could have received. And then there’s also the farm in Florida and the farm here in Albertinia, which is enough of a present for me!’
‘I thought, this time in my career I’d probably be more wanting to farm. But I sort of got that second push in the game. I really feel I can still win a Major. It’s keeping me up there and focused to work a little more. I’m getting closer. When I feel I can’t compete, I’ll hang it up and enjoy life.’
That’s not to say that he isn’t enjoying life as it is. He has always said his three priorities in life are, ‘golf, family and farming – although not necessarily in that order’.
As he works on his golf game, especially with the prayer of adding a Major, he admits he doesn’t get caught up in the obsession with more distance off the tee.
‘I have never tried to get more distance. I work with the stuff I’m good at and try to get better. Every now and then I might get a new shaft and gain one mile per hour here and there, but nothing to where I’ve had to change my swing.’
And while distance has become the obsession in golf, it has almost ruled out approaches to greens from around 120-130 yards these days.
‘That’s so true,’ Oosthuizen says. ‘The golf courses these days are so long you don’t often get into that 130-yard range. I normally set my range from around 150-180 yards to get to the green. On the par fives I have a certain number, and if I lay up, I try to leave myself that 130 yards and then hit a smooth wedge.
‘Now golfers tee it up and hit it as far as possible and take it from there. That’s why I still love the tough courses, where one needs a strategy to do well. I’d rather hit a fairway than miss it in the quest for more distance. I like The Open golf courses on the Major roster, where you need to find the fairway.’
This year’s US Open will be played at Brookline, Massachusetts, in June and The Open reverts to his happy hunting ground, the Old Course at St Andrews. The PGA Championship meanwhile is at Southern Hills Country Club, which last hosted the event in 2007, where Tiger Woods won at eight under. Before that it staged the 2001 US Open, won by Retief Goosen on five under.
‘I’ve never played Southern Hills, but it’s a tough course and I’ll like that. I’m always excited with the courses that have got good history, old-style golf courses. I’ll do a little more prep and homework and get there a little bit earlier and look at the course.’
And while he looks, he knows the eyes of a golfing-proud nation will be watching him, from near and far.
20 BEST FINISHES
2009: Qatar Masters (T2nd)
2010: The Open Championship (1st)
2012: The Masters (2nd), Deutsche Bank Championship (2nd), Malaysian Open (1st), Singapore Open (2nd)
2013: Volvo Golf Champions (1st)
2014: Volvo Golf Champions (1st)
2015: The Open Championship (T2nd), US Open (T2nd)
2016: WGC-Dell Match Play (2nd)
2017: The PGA Championship (T2nd), The Players Championship (T2nd)
2018: South African Open (1st)
2019: Valspar Championship (T2nd), WGC-HSBC Champions (3rd)
2020: US Open (3rd)
2021: US Open (2nd), The PGA Championship (T2nd), The Open Championship (T3rd)
IN THE BAG
- G400 Ping driver
- TM 3-wood
- G425 Ping 7-wood
- Ping i210 4- and 5-iron
- Ping Blueprint irons, 6 to wedge
- Ping Glide 2.0 gap-wedge (50º), sand-wedge (55º)
- Callaway Mack Daddy lob-wedge (60º)
- Ping Vault 2.0 Anser putter
– This article first appeared in the February 2022 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine. Subscribe here!
