NO AMOUNT of noisy parakeets, even louder jets or sunbathing nudists nearby could distract Louis Oosthuizen from finally claiming his first European Tour title yesterday.
A week after losing a three-shot lead and having his fourth runners-up finish, the 27-year-old South African lifted the Andalucian Open in Malaga by three shots from Scot Peter Whiteford and England’s Richard Finch.
The victory lifts Oosthuizen back into the world’s top-50 just in time to earn him a second successive trip to the US Masters.
“Unbelievable – that was my goal two months ago,” he said.
“I loved every minute of it (the Masters) last year and I’m just so excited about going back.”
After dropping to 75th in the rankings, he then came second and third in successive weeks in his home country, but even last weekend’s near-miss left him almost certainly having to win at the Parador course to make it to Augusta.
Oosthuizen did it in impressive fashion, taking over at the top with a second-day 63 and closing with rounds of 66 and 67 for a 17-under aggregate of 263.
After being drenched in champagne by fellow countryman Thomas Aiken and then kissing his wife and three-month-old daughter, Jana, he added: “I was quite nervous down the stretch and very nervous on the 18th tee.
“I just decided to hit it as hard as I could.”
As for not letting another victory chance go begging, the former amateur team-mate of current European Tour number one Charl Schwartzel stated: “I knew I was good enough to win one.
“Now I want to stay in the top-50 and be competitive every time I play.”
Oosthuizen praised his compatriot and world number nine Ernie Els for being part of his overdue success.
“I was in the Ernie Els Foundation since just after leaving school and I would definitely not be here if it were not for him.”
After three birdies in his first five Oosthuizen had opened the gap, but a three-putt bogey at the 409-yard seventh gave the chasing pack hope.
Whiteford, never higher than sixth in 52 previous Tour events, suddenly emerged as the biggest threat thanks to five birdies in eight holes around the turn.
The 29-year-old from Kirkcaldy, forced to switch to his reserve driver when his favourite was stolen from his bag before the third round, had a chance to move only one behind when he hit a superb approach to 12 feet on the long 14th.
But he missed that, and when he three-putted the next for bogey it made life a lot easier for Oosthuizen.
Whiteford, who came into the tournament 291st in the world, had found a driver he really liked at the start of the week, and said after his 66: “I thought I had it sussed.
“Then I discovered it missing before I went to practise and the one I had to use for the last two days was rubbish. I’ll get a replacement now.”
Finch always looked too far behind after double-bogeying the short ninth, but two closing birdies gave him a 67.
Fellow Englishman Robert Coles, never higher than third in 266 events going back 15 years, was second at the start of the day, but a 71 saw him slip to fourth.
The Irish challenge drifted away over the weekend. Paul McGinley, who was challenging after the first two days, slipped to a 74 on Saturday and never really recovered and finished on two under.
Simon Thornton, Gareth Maybin and Michael Hoey were the best of the Irish in a share of 36th, one shot better than the Dubliner.
Open De Andalucia How They Finished
(par 70):
263 – Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 63 66 67
266 – Peter Whiteford 69 64 67 66, Richard Finch 68 65 66 67
268 – Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 68 65 67, Robert Coles 69 65 63 71
269 – Gabriel Canizares (Spa) 69 64 65 71, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65 67 69 68, Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 69 68 66, Jamie Donaldson 67 69 67 66, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 68 66 67 68, James Morrison 71 63 70 65
270 – Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 65 67 70, Sam Hutsby 67 63 70 70, Stephen Gallacher 67 70 65 68, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 68 67 70 65, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 72 64 68 66
271 – Paul Lawrie 65 68 68 70, David Howell 69 69 67 66, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 70 63 69
273 – Steve Webster 71 66 68 68, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 66 73 68 66, Mark Brown (Nzl) 66 68 70 69
274 – Gary Orr 68 68 66 72, Stephen Dodd 73 66 67 68, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 68 69 69
275 – Paul Waring 74 62 69 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 65 68 70, Bradley Dredge 66 70 71 68
276 – Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 66 65 74, Richard Bland 68 68 69 71, Gary Lockerbie 69 67 72 68, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 69 68 68 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 68 71 68, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 66 69 71 70, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 70 69 68 69
277 – Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 68 68 70 71, John Parry 68 69 68 72, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 69 73 65, Gareth Maybin 70 67 68 72, David Lynn 67 70 69 71, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 70 65 74, Simon Thornton 69 70 70 68, Michael Hoey 69 69 70 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 67 68 69
278 – Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 69 71 69, David Drysdale 71 68 68 71, Phillip Archer 66 74 70 68, Danny Willett 74 66 71 67, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 67 68 72, Paul McGinley 68 66 74 70, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 71 68 70
279 – Richie Ramsay 73 67 69 70, Santiago Luna (Spa) 73 64 70 72, Darren Clarke 70 68 72 69
280 – Marco Ruiz (Par) 70 67 72 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 71 68 72 69, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 71 67 75 67
281 – Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 66 71 70 74, Jamie Elson 70 68 74 69, Robert Rock 69 71 76 65, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 71 73 68, Phillip Price 72 68 71 70, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 67 71 72 71
282 – Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 70 69 72 71, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 68 72 71 71, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 67 71 75 69, Stephan Gross Jnr (Ger) 70 68 71 73, Dale Whitnell 68 70 70 74, Shane Lowry 72 67 74 69
283 – Miguel Angel Martin (Spa) 72 67 70 74, Marc Warren 71 68 71 73
284 – Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 69 72 72, Nick Dougherty 72 68 74 70, Barry Lane 70 70 73 71, Manuel Quiros (Spa) 71 68 76 69
285 – Alastair Forsyth 71 69 70 75
286 – Anthony Wall 68 69 76 73, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 70 70 75 71, Andrew Oldcorn 71 69 73 73, Peter Lawrie 68 72 71 75
288 – Gary Murphy 69 71 75 73, Julien Quesne (Fra) 71 69 77 71
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