It took longer than expected, but it was well worth the wait as Louis Oosthuizen won the Alfred Dunhill Championship by two strokes at Leopard Creek on Monday December 11, to finally claim a title he has sought most of his career.
A storm on Sunday December 10 and the subsequent suspension of the final round forced the tournament into a Monday finish. But after twice finishing runner-up in this event, Oosthuizen was happy to wait as long as was needed to claim this title.
“It feels good. I’ve waited a long time for this one, and it’s very special. This and the SA Open are the two events in South Africa I always wanted to win. I’m very happy,” said Oosthuizen after a final round of 69 and a winning total of 18 under par.
Charl Schwartzel finished second on 16 under par with a closing 71, while Christiaan Bezuidenhout took third place on 14 under par with a final round of 68.
Oosthuizen and Schwartzel were tied for the lead on 16 under par through seven holes of the final round when Sunday’s storm suspended play. They resumed on Monday morning, and the two Major winners matched each other on the magnificent Leopard Creek layout before a run of three straight birdies from the 13th gave Oosthuizen the edge.
ALSO READ: Storm results in suspension of play at Leopard Creek
“I knew Charl was going to be around all day, because he likes this golf course and he knows how to play it. I think it was those three putts [for birdie] that got me ahead. It’s tough to be very aggressive over the last few holes, so I could sort of just hang onto making pars,” said Oosthuizen.
He had a three-shot lead with two holes to play and admits that Leopard Creek’s tough finishing stretch took it out of him. “I didn’t have a great lie on 17 and ended up making bogey there, and then on 18, I made par the hard way. But that’s what this golf course does. It’s such a good finishing golf course that you need to just hold on.”
Scores:
• 270 – Louis Oosthuizen, 70 68 63 69
• 272 – Charl Schwartzel, 68 68 65 71
• 274 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, 68 70 68 68
• 278 – Darius van Driel, 70 72 69 67
– Matti Schmid, 72 69 67 70
– Marco Penge, 69 66 72 71
• 279 – Alejandro del Rey, 72 71 66 70
– Casey Jarvis, 67 67 74 71
– Jayden Schaper, 66 72 70 71
– Andy Sullivan, 68 69 69 73
• 280 – Thriston Lawrence, 73 69 70 68
– Matthias Schwab, 70 71 70 69
– Paul Waring, 68 68 74 70
• 281 – Andrea Pavan, 70 70 70 71
• 282 – Aaron Cockerill, 69 72 71 70
– Antoine Rozner, 71 71 70 70
– Matthew Baldwin, 74 68 70 70
– Dylan Naidoo, 70 71 70 71
– Ugo Coussaud, 68 74 69 71
• 283 – Dylan Frittelli, 72 71 71 69
– Edoardo Molinari, 70 73 72 68
– Renato Paratore, 69 70 71 73
– Robin Williams, 65 71 72 75
– Ashun Wu 68 70 69 76
• 284 – Samuel Jones, 67 75 70 72
– Jaco van Zyl, 68 74 72 70
– Will Enefer, 72 71 68 73
– JC Ritchie, 73 67 70 74
– Luca Filippi, 68 70 71 75
– Christiaan Maas, 67 73 69 75
– Zander Lombard, 73 70 76 65
• 285 – Manuel Elvira, 66 71 75 73
– Alexander Levy, 71 72 71 71
– Erik van Rooyen, 68 70 72 75
– Wilco Nienaber, 72 70 74 69
– Sam Bairstow, 71 66 72 76
– Kristian Krogh Johannessen, 70 72 67 76
– Kyle Barker, 70 67 80 68
• 286 – Thomas Aiken, 71 72 70 73
– Joakim Lagergren, 68 71 75 72
– Neil Schietekat, 72 69 74 71
– Jamie Donaldson, 71 70 75 70
– Johannes Veerman, 70 71 67 78
• 287 – Christo Lamprecht, 67 69 76 75
– Jaco Prinsloo, 67 76 70 74
– Dale Whitnell, 71 69 71 76
– Dean Burmester, 69 73 75 70
• 288 – Keenan Davidse, 73 66 73 76
– Anthony Michael, 71 72 70 75
– Espen Kofstad, 69 72 71 76
– Matthis Besard, 70 71 71 76
– Adrien Saddier, 68 75 70 75
– Scott Jamieson, 67 76 71 74
– Francesco Laporta, 70 71 75 72
– Wynand Dingle, 70 68 70 80
• 289 – James Morrison, 69 73 72 75
– Mike Lorenzo-Vera, 74 69 73 73
– Pieter Moolman, 70 72 68 79
– Joshua Berry, 70 73 74 72
• 291 – Jean Hugo, 72 71 72 76
• 294 – Chase Hanna, 72 71 75 76
– Andrew Johnston, 69 72 78 75
– Malcolm Mitchell, 69 72 81 72
• 295 – Nikhil Rama, 71 71 74 79
• 296 – Doug McGuigan, 73 70 78 75
• RTD – Louis de Jager, 70 69 76
• RTD – Daniel van Tonder, 72 71 73
• RTD – Darren Fichardt, 69 73 76
• DSQ – Soren Kjeldsen, 71 71 74
• DSQ – Jeff Winther, 74 68 75
Missed the cut:
• 144 – Hennie du Plessis, 70 74
– Yurav Premlall, 72 72
– Max Rottluff, 75 69
– Ross McGowan, 69 75
• 145 – Conner Mackenzie, 73 72
– Daniel Bennett, 75 70
– Angel Hidalgo, 70 75
– Lorenzo Scalise, 71 74
– Jesper Svensson, 69 76
– Heinrich Bruiners, 75 70
– Jovan Rebula, 74 71
– David Law, 72 73
• 146 – Branden Grace, 76 70
– Deon Germishuys, 73 73
– Matteo Manassero, 70 76
– Dan Bradbury, 74 72
– Dylan Mostert, 75 71
– Anton Karlsson, 72 74
– Sebastian Garcia, 70 76
– Jacques Blaauw, 69 77
– Santiago Tarrio, 72 74
– Stefan Wears-Taylor, 69 77
– Ruan Conradie, 73 73
• 147 – Sebastian Friedrichsen, 73 74
– Martin Rohwer, 73 74
– Freddy Schott, 74 73
– Ryan van Velzen, 74 73
– Tom Vaillant, 73 74
– Brandon Stone, 77 70
– Ross Fisher, 75 72
– Oliver Bekker, 73 74
– Matthew Southgate, 76 71
– Benjamin Rusch, 73 74
– Alexander Knappe, 73 74
– Jason Roets, 68 79
• 148 – Benjamin Follett-Smith, 75 73
– Joachim B Hansen, 76 72
– Clement Sordet, 73 75
– Ivan Cantero, 73 75
– Robson Chinhoi, 74 74
– Jacques P de Villiers, 72 76
– Nick Bachem, 79 69
– Martin Vorster, 73 75
– Keagan Thomas, 71 77
– Mateusz Gradecki, 72 76
• 149 – Filippo Celli, 71 78
– Ockie Strydom, 71 78
– Lyle Rowe, 75 74
– Gavin Green, 75 74
– Merrick Bremner, 78 71
– Guido Migliozzi, 75 74
– Shaun Norris, 71 78
– Louis Albertse, 72 77
– Tristen Strydom 76 73
• 150 – Slenda Sithebe, 76 74
– Joel Girrbach, 74 76
– Peter Karmis, 76 74
– Hunter Epson, 76 74
– Jack Davidson, 71 79
– Adam Blomme, 73 77
• 151 – Jeong Weon Ko, 73 78
– Musiwalo Nethunzwi, 79 72
– Hennie O’Kennedy, 74 77
– Rupert Kaminski, 78 73
– Rourke van der Spuy, 77 74
• 152 – MJ Viljoen, 77 75
• 153 – David Ravetto, 78 75
– Ruan Korb, 78 75
– Stuart Manley, 79 74
• 154 – Hennie Otto, 79 75
– JJ Senekal, 80 74
– Jonathan Broomhead, 77 77
– John Axelsen, 79 75
– Albert Venter, 78 76
– Trevor Fisher Jr, 79 75
• 155 – Quintin Wilsnach, 75 80
• 157 – Combrinck Smit, 76 81
– Toto Thimba Jr, 79 78
– Wade Jacobs, 76 81
• 158 – Omar Sandys, 78 80
• 159 – Thabang Simon, 81 78
• 160 – Alphius Kelapile, 83 77
• 161 – Gerhard Pepler, 83 78
• 165 – Jacquin Hess, 81 84
• 169 – Makhetha Mazibuko, 85 84
• WDN – Ewen Ferguson, 78
