Oosthuizen's understated approach is a major plus

CADDIE'S ROLE:Louis Oosthuizen's quiet, calm and controlled demeanour is just how he is on a weekly basis

IT’S ALMOST a little awkward when an unknown wins a tournament. It’s embarrassing when he wins a major. No matter how hard the wonderful commentators on the Beeb tried to feign interest in the young anti-hero South African and 139th British Open champion, Louis Oosthuizen, nobody I was watching television with bought it.

The producers capitulated on the 12th hole on Sunday as Paul Casey hooked his tee-shot on the westerly wind into the gorse bushes and clocked up a triple bogey, leaving Louis with an eight-shot lead.

Even at St Andrews, a young man with limited major experience couldn’t fail to bring back his lead in tact to the clubhouse in the old grey town.

Well, of course he could have, but if you had seen him play over the past few days you would have seen a talented golfer in control of his swing, strategy and emotion. It is natural to expect a moment, or moments, of weakness from such a relative novice to Open championships.

But Oosthuizen showed none. His expression was real, he was in control.

The young southern Cape golfer is a newcomer to majors: he played in the PGA and some World events in the past, but last week was the first British Open he was exempt for well in advance. He had been moving up the world rankings steadily and his win in Malaga earlier this year sealed his position as a force to be reckoned with in Europe.

There are plenty of golfers in the modern era who are good enough to win on any given day if they are in form. It would appear with the recent major victories of previously-considered relative minnows in majors – such as Lucas Glover in the US Open last year and Graeme McDowell at Pebble Beach last month – that the big-name preserve on majors is not necessarily the case today.

It’s just taken the media machine a bit of time to catch on to this idea. Good players have become fearless as well as good. On any given day if they are in form they will seize the moment, as Oosthuizen did last weekend on a blustery Fife coast.

On Friday last the conspiracy theorists on tour were at work as the wind became sufficiently strong to warrant a suspension of play.

As players and caddies lurked in buses in a holding position on the side of the course, one of them suggested it wasn’t a coincidence that Tiger had just teed-off and that’s why they stopped play. Interesting idea.

Others had gentle jabs at the RA and their amateur decision-making when it came to setting pins almost entirely on the most exposed areas of every green, whereby if there were high winds almost inevitably play would have to be stopped due to wobbling balls on the greens.

The reason, of course, the pins were so tough on Friday was that the Old Course had been completely annihilated by so many players during the benign conditions and the accessibility of the pins on Thursday that we were bound to see the opposite the next day.

In fact, the eventual winner’s opening round of 65 was just an aside given that our own wunderkind, Rory McIlroy, had bettered that score by two.

Let’s face it, Rory is an obvious media darling, so it was going to be hard to be objective with such a dream first-round leader for them.

Rory carries the expectation of the media on his young shoulders everywhere he swings a club and particularly as a first-round leader of the British Open.

It was really only after the 12th hole on Sunday that most commentators finally dropped the “S” from Oosthuizen’s first name: they finally accepted that a new star had been born at the home of golf and they had better now get his name right.

Louis can now expect a little more attention and feel the weight of expectation in coming events due to his stunning performance last week. This doesn’t always sit well with some players.

His fellow countryman, Trevor Immelman, won the US Masters in 2008. But his victory has seemed to have a detrimental effect on his game.

Being a major champion, or considered a serious major contender, carries often uncomfortable baggage with it.

Not everyone can handle such consistent pressure.

To those of us on tour it is never a surprise that a player like Oosthuizen can win a major. He is one of the longest hitting players on tour, despite the alarm by commentators that he was knocking it consistently by Paul Casey last Sunday.

It is a victory for the modest, understated and controlled side of the game. It shows it is not always the case that the most arrogant and abrasive win.

Louis’s quiet, calm and controlled demeanour is just how he is on a weekly basis. He is a talented and understated golfer who is not afraid to seize the moment if it presents itself on any given week, no matter who the competition is or what the arena.

He is a normal person with a natural ability to play golf. Let’s hope the major machine doesn’t try to perfect his charming and unaffected smile.