Oosthuizen saves mental game for tournament days

Louis Oosthuizen’s major gameplan is as uncomplicated as his flawless swing – show up and see what happens. It worked relatively well in back-to-back runner-up finishes in last year’s U.S. and British opens.

“I like just getting to a major and let the tournament start on Thursday and hopefully by that time I’m not working on anything in my swing and just feel like I’m playing,” said the South African who lost to Bubba Watson in a playoff at the 2012 Masters.

“Then it’s all on mental – staying patient and not making stupid mistakes. It’s all a confidence thing. I think going into a major being overconfident is also not a good thing because you put extra pressure on yourself and expect yourself to do really well.”

Oosthuizen’s approach paid off with a claret jug at the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews. Last July, he came within a shot of Zach Johnson in a three-man playoff of repeating at the Old Course.

But his simple outlook proved most impressive at the 2015 U.S. Open, where he nearly won after shooting a crippling 77 in the first round at Chambers Bay. Subsequent rounds of 66-66-67 – the lowest final 54 by far in the field – left him one shot short of winner Jordan Spieth.

“I took a lot out of the U.S. Open, knowing you can start dead bad and still have a good shot of winning the event,” Oosthuizen said.

Oosthuizen maintained his hot hand returning to St. Andrews, coming close to joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only modern-era players to win multiple claret jugs at the home of golf.

“At the British Open I was very confident going into the last round and played well,” he said “The way the wind was that day I knew I was going to play catch-up on the back nine and the guys were firing early on. I felt at the end I did very well getting into the playoff and then I had my chances in the playoff but things just didn’t go my way.”

His playoff loss at St. Andrews reinforced Oosthuizen’s status as a major player in the majors even if he doesn’t get the same attention as golf’s usual headliners.

He’s fine with all the ink golf’s elite are getting in the run-up to the Masters.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “It’s brilliant to see the top guys up there. At a major if you have those names up there who all won majors, it’s just down to hitting proper golf shots because you know all the guys have done it before. You’ve got to stay in that moment and be ready for it.”

Oosthuizen seems as ready as any of them for Augusta. While the Florida swing kicked off the countdown to the Masters across the street from Oosthuizen’s adopted American home at PGA National, he traveled to the planet’s most remote capital city of Perth, Western Australia, to collect a victory on the European Tour.

“I’m an international player and if I want to play sometimes I have to make these decisions to go far and play,” he said. “To me it was a good choice and it worked out nicely.

“It’s good, especially early in the season, getting a win. I had a good time off that I needed in December and January and started Qatar finished seventh. The Sunday of Malaysia I started finding a few things putting-wise and then immediately started hitting the ball better. You’re not scared of having to save putts for par. Just built on from there and hit the ball great in Australia.”

The Masters will be Oosthuizen’s seventh start in eight weeks as he plays his way into form.

“Yeah I’m ready,” he said. “The game is going in the right direction. Just need to get good finishes up until Augusta and get the game really sharp.”