Louis

Oosthuizen

The South African has lived inside of the top 50 OWGR since December 2014 but now finds himself on the outside looking in. A top 50 spot is so crucial because it’s his only avenue into the 2023 Masters at this point, given the LIV Golf Tour is not getting any OWGR points and he’s no longer playing PGA TOUR events. Oosthuizen was 25th in the OWGR after The 150th Open this summer but has quickly fallen to 51st, with just one sanctioned event on his resume since then (T10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship). He will start the week at 12/1 on the odds board, second behind only the defending champ, Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

DJ announced in his LIV Golf press conference that he has resigned his PGA TOUR membership for now. That has become the popular path for all participants in the new LIV Golf series. With his resignation from the PGA TOUR, Johnson also loses his eligibility for the Ryder Cup. “All things are subject to change. Hopefully at some point it will change and we’ll be able to participate.” Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace have also resigned their memberships, joining Kevin Na, who announced his resignation last weekend.

The 39-year-old, a pre-tourney 50/1 outright, is a mid-tourney WD for a 10th time in 214 career events, second of the season in nine starts, joining The RSM Classic as the top-ranked OWGRer in the field, where he WD (back) prior to R2 after a 1-under 69 on the Seaside Course in R1, T123 and nine back on the leaderboard. It’s also his third mid-tourney WD in 52 majors, first since back-to-backs at the 2013 U.S. Open and 2013 Open (as a former champ), and first at the Masters in his 14th appearance. The South African, who will leave Tiger Woods and Joaquin Niemann as a 2-ball in R2, had opened with a 4-over 76 (3 birdies, 3 bogeys, 2 doubles), T70 on the leaderboard, which matched his second-worst opening-round score in the event, swallowing the same R1 score last year en route to a T26 (76-70-72-71).

It was a difficult start to Oosthuizen’s Honda Classic career in the early 2010’s as he withdrew during his first two appearances at PGA National. Missing the cut the following year, he did not return to Palm Beach Gardens until 2017. Finishing in a tie for 21st, he found his footing as he put together a similar result the next year courtesy of a T-24 effort. Missing the cut in his last outing in 2020, Oosthuizen posted rounds of 74 and 75, losing 3.58 strokes off-the-tee in the process. This may have some skeptical of his chances this week as water is featured on 15-of-18 holes. Proving to be his undoing in the playoff at the Zurich Classic and on the 71st hole of the U.S. Open, Oosthuizen remains in search of his first victory on U.S. soil.

The South African has been idle since a mid-tourney WD (back) prior to R2 of the RSM 12 weeks ago (November) as the top-ranked OWGRer in the field. He was asked post-round today what he’s been doing during his off time, to which he replied, “Nothing. Nothing golf-wise. So, I went -- I haven’t been back, with everything with COVID, we haven’t been back to South African in two years. And finally could get going and we went there in December and actually got stuck 20 days longer because we got COVID as well. And so, we were there for seven weeks, I didn’t even take my clubs with.” The 39-year-old, who’s finished top 11 here in both of his prior appearances, including a solo 3rd on debut in 2017 and T11 last year when T5 thru 54 holes (69-67-63-71), offset one, 3-putt bogey today (from 26'6") with five birdies, gaining 3.337 strokes tee-to-green and 0.523 on-the-green at last glance. See link below to post-round comments.

Oosthuizen has been dormant since a mid-tournament WD at The RSM Classic to end the fall. It was a rough end to a successful year. The South African dipped as low as 33rd in the OWGR in the Spring but rallied to end the year ranked 10th thanks to a trio of podium finishes in major championships. Oosthuizen will be making his third appearance at TPC Scottsdale with a solo third (2017) and T11 (2021) currently on his resume.

While it’s his first start on the TOUR, he has notched a win at the Malaysian Open since the heartbreaking loss to Bubba Watson. For the season, he’s made each of his six cuts, with the exception of a W/D at The Honda, and has a third at the Shell Houston Open to go along with his Masters performance. He missed the cut in his first trip to the TPC Sawgrass last season.

The South African is no stranger to an early exit. In fact, this will be his ninth mid-tournament WD in 208 career PGA TOUR events. That doesn’t factor in WDs that happened early in the week or at the 11th hour leading up to the start of an event. His back and neck have been an issue his entire career and he will turn 40 next year, so that won’t be getting any easier for him. Gamers should continue to factor in this WD risk any time Oosthuizen’s name pops up on the tee sheet.

The top-ranked player in the field in the Official World Golf Ranking actually gained ground on the board, up three spots to T10 on 12-under 201, but began the day trailing the co-leaders by four and is now six back, so he lost ground in that regard. He’s posted progressively worse scores of 65-67-69, but is on a similar trajectory as last season’s edition, where he closed with a day-low bogey-free 64, which salvaged a T19. Thru three days in Vegas, the 38-year-old has totaled 15 birdies against three bogeys, and ranks in the top 25 in all strokes gained stats with the exception of 54th in SG: Putting (-0.167), including a -1.223 in R2, and a -0.428 today.

Oosthuizen, the top-ranked OWGRer in the field this week, finished T19 last year on debut, also opening with bogey-free 65, one of 21 error-free laps in R1. There was just one bogey-free lap in R4, however, a day-low 64 by Oosthuizen, a higher finish stunted by middle scores of 68-71. The Florida resident’s career low on TOUR is 63 (x2), most recently in the desert in R3 at the 2021 WM Phoenix Open (finished T11). Today’s effort featured six birdies, three from between 15 and 19 feet, on 12 (of 14) fairways and 17 greens in regulation, gaining 1.865 strokes off-the-tee, 0.796 approaching, and 1.669 on-the-green.