You can’t blame Louis Oosthuizen for not being in the mood to talk following a third consecutive close call in a major championship. But three days after his third-place finish at Royal St. George’s, the South African finally opened up about what happened at the Open Championship.
Oosthuizen spoke to reporters at a press conference ahead of this week’s 3M Open, where he’s getting right back to competition. And he explained why didn’t do any media following Sunday’s final round.
“You don’t want to always talk about being close again, finishing second, finishing third, so I wasn’t really up for that conversation right there. So it was disappointing,” Oosthuizen said. “It was just frustrating because I knew my game was definitely there to have a good, solid day. Weather was as good as you can get at The Open, so it was just a bit of frustration and disappointment, really.”
Oosthuizen led after each of the first three days before shooting a one-over-par 71 in the final round. He played alongside Collin Morikawa, who shot a bogey-free 66 to win his second major title in less than a year.
The 38-year-old congratulated Morikawa and thanked the fans on Twitter on Sunday evening. On Wednesday, he had more kind words for the young star.
“Collin played the way you should play to win a major, especially on a Sunday,” Oosthuizen said. “He didn’t make many mistakes and when he did make a mistake, he made unbelievable up and downs for pars.
Oosthuizen finished runner-up at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open before his T-3 at Royal St. George’s. Since winning his lone major at the 2010 Open Championship, he has recorded six runner-ups in majors.
On the bright side, Oosthuizen is back in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in eight years. He’ll tee it up with Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson for the first two rounds at TPC Twin Cities, where he’s making his first appearance.
“I think I’m glad that I entered in this event to sort of get back in there and play and not really sit around at home and thinking about the disappointing Sunday last week,” he said. “I’m happy to be out here, see the golf course and looking forward to this week.”