The Open / Steven Rawlings / 18 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

It's a stroll in the sun for Louis on a day when drama just didn't materialise...

Once again, a huge priced player has won the Open Championship but there was no fluke about South African Louis Oosthuizen's win. He belied his SP of around [500.00] in tremendous style and had the event sewn up after the second hole of the final round.

Paul Casey, Oosthuizen's closest rival, missed a great birdie chance on the first and then bogeyed the second. The gap was stretched to five and after that it was, as Peter Alliss would say, a mere bagatelle and the South African eventually strolled home by seven strokes.

My Bets

It's been a poor week, where positives are hard to find. Tiger Woods was my main play and although he suggested promise over the first two days, he performed poorly at the weekend. The best of my pre-event picks was Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, who managed to finish a never nearer tied 11th.

The only good news was that I managed to dig out Tom Lehman in the Top Senior market but it's hardly cause for mass celebration.

I don't have any regrets really; obviously I should have gotten Master Oosthuizen on board at some stage, especially on Friday, but I didn't. On the plus side I kept stakes low in-running, so although I've lost this week it's not been a disaster.

Player to Watch

It was a disappointing weekend for Korean amateur Jin Jeong, until he eagled the last hole, but he looks sure to be a name we'll all become familiar with soon. I'd seen the footage of his British Amateur win at Muirfield a month ago and had assumed his putting that day had been some sort of fluke but watching him over the first two days here, I'm not so sure it was.

Jeong will probably turn pro after his appearance at next year's Masters, by which time he'll be an Australian citizen. He currently resides in Melbourne and may turn up with an invite at one of the events down-under at the start of next year, where he may well be worth a small investment.

Player to Swerve

It has to be Tiger Woods. Ok, he didn't get the luck of the draw but he never got going on what he claims is his favourite course. I have no doubt he'll be back in the winner's circle, but when? It wouldn't surprise me if he failed to notch at all in 2010.

I may back him at Bridgestone next month, where his record is unbelievably good, if the price is tempting, but other than that I'll be steering clear of the world number one for quite a while.

What have we learnt for next year?

Before we look at next year, let's wrap up this. Fair play to my colleague, Paul Krishnamurty, he did warn us that the event could turn into a bit of a bore, and he wasn't wrong.

I don't for one second want to diminish the winner's achievement - he was truly superb - but the last three Opens at St Andrews have now produced winning margins of five, eight and now seven shots and three very dull final days. There's no doubt in my mind that the Old Lady is no longer a stern enough test. I wouldn't like to see it dropped from the rota but I do struggle to see why we need to have it every five years. They haven't decided on venues past 2014 yet, so fingers crossed, but I imagine we'll be back here again in five years time.

Next year's event will be staged at Royal St George's, scene of one of the tournament's biggest shocks, when Thomas Bjorn messed up and Ben Curtis won. Unlike this year, the ability to bomb it off the tee won't be the key to success - smart iron-play is what's required.

There might not be any Majors to look forward to next week but there's a beautiful looking new venue for the Scandinavian Masters, and on the US PGA Tour it's the RBC Canadian Open, held at the St. George's Golf and Country Club for the first time since 1968, so not too much course form to ponder! Even so, I'll back on Wednesday with a preview of both events.

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