By Larry Dorman
The New York Times
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland
Throughout a march toward the British Open championship that went from improbable to inexorable , three things about Louis Oosthuizen did not change Sunday: his demeanor, his swing tempo and his resilience.
And the moment it seemed his grip on the claret jug might be slipping, when he missed a 15-foot putt for par on No. 8 and his lead shrank to three strokes from five, Oosthuizen did what was necessary to win.
Oosthuizen, whose prominent ears and gap-toothed smile earned him the nickname "Shrek," drove the green at the 352-yard ninth hole and drained a 50-foot eagle putt, all but terminating any title hopes harbored by Paul Casey, Villarreal Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Retief Goosen or anyone else in the field.
With that momentum change, Oosthuizen, a 27-year-old from South Africa, cruised to a round of 71 and a seven-stroke victory over Westwood to win his first major championship.
Soft spoken with a hard-nosed game, Oosthuizen became the fourth South African to win a British Open. He joined four-time winner Bobby Locke, three-time winner Gary Player and 2002 champion Ernie Els, and became the first golfer to make St. Andrews the site of his first major championship since Tony Lema in 1962.
"To win an Open championship is special," Oosthuizen said, "but to win it here at St. Andrews is just - it's something you dream about. Yeah, I'm proud of the way I held my nerves and everything."
In four days of spectacular golf, a man whose name was barely known outside Europe dominated a field of the best-known golfers in the world. He shot a 16-under-par 272, and pounded them and the Old Course into submission with a combination of precision (No. 1 in driving accuracy), power (No. 4 in driving distance at 319.4 yards) and putting (No. 3). He had 20 birdies for the week. No one had more.
It was the most dominating performance in an Open since Tiger Woods won by a record-tying eight strokes here in 2000.
Woods finished at 3 under , tied for 23rd after a final-round 72. He was impressed by the way Oosthuizen fended off Casey - whose triple bogey at the 12th hole eventually knocked him out of contention.
"He's being consistent, putting all the pressure on Paul to come get him," Woods said. "He doesn't need to go out there and shoot a low round today, just needs to be around par."
The golfers who know him say the temptation to count Oosthuizen's victory in with some notable flukes should be resisted. Westwood, who shot 70 to finish second, and Casey (75), Stenson (71) and Rory McIlroy (68), who were eight strokes back in a tie for third, all said Oosthuizen's emergence was only a matter of time.
Earlier this year, Westwood was having a good stretch of tournaments handbags-l when he was struck by Oosthuizen's ball striking and the consistency of his swing.
"I remember watching him hit balls on the range there, and he's very impressive," said Westwood . "He flights the ball very well when it gets windy. I can see why he's doing well this week.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is probably the first time he's been in contention at a major championship, and he's tackled everything that's thrown at him like an old pro."
