{"id":101584,"date":"2021-07-17T21:45:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T21:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=101584"},"modified":"2021-07-18T01:00:24","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T01:00:24","slug":"oosthuizen-has-slim-lead-for-opens-final-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=101584","title":{"rendered":"Oosthuizen has slim lead for Open's final round"},"content":{"rendered":"

So flawless for so long, Louis Oosthuizen started making his worst swings of the week as his two-shot lead evaporated in the British Open<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

With an hour left in a third round as undulating as the fairways at Royal St. George's, Oosthuizen found himself tied for the lead with Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth and facing a 10-foot par putt to avoid falling behind.<\/p>\n

"I was a bit upset there," the South African said, "but got myself quickly together."<\/p>\n

Oosthuizen delivered a key par save on the 15th and an eight-foot birdie on the par-three 16th. He finished with a one-under 69, leaving him with a one-stroke lead and another good shot at ending his 11-year wait for a second major title.<\/p>\n

"I will play my heart out tomorrow," the 2010 Open champion said, "and see if I can lift the claret jug again."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Saturday ended pretty much as it had started, with Oosthuizen, Morikawa and Spieth occupying the top three spots, three shots separating them.<\/p>\n

Plenty happened in between.<\/p>\n

Especially on the back nine and \u2014 most tellingly \u2014 on the 18th green, where Spieth missed a par putt from two feet for his second straight bogey to drop three shots back again.<\/p>\n

Barely 45 minutes earlier, he was just off the green at the par-five 14th hole in two and seemingly on the brink of taking the lead.<\/p>\n

After making only par there and then bogeying Nos. 17 and 18, Spieth ran off for some putting practice after a round of 69. The R&A said he declined all media requests.<\/p>\n

It wasn't long before Morikawa and Oosthuizen, both one-time major winners some 10 years apart, were walking onto the green at the last. Oosthuizen's long putt over a hump from the right of green settled close to the hole for his par, then Morikawa slid a 12-foot birdie putt just past the hole.<\/p>\n

Morikawa, the PGA champion last year and in his first links test, settled for a 68 and trimmed Oosthuizen's lead to one shot. He had been four shots behind after 10 holes and made a strong push at about the time Oosthuizen showed signs of fading.<\/p>\n

"I don't have much experience on links golf, and pretty much all the highlights in my head are from this week," he said. "Thankfully there is quite a few. Hopefully we can just use that momentum from the first three days and just bring it into the last 18."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oosthuizen, a runner-up in the last two majors, was at 12-under 198.<\/p>\n

The pin positions \u2014 rather than the weather \u2014 proved to be the greatest defense at Royal St. George's, with the wind not getting above 10 mph and a cloudless sky with bright sunshine looking sure to bring another day of low scoring.<\/p>\n

However, pins were tucked away, sometimes near slopes, while the firmer fairways brought the deep rough and pot bunkers into play.<\/p>\n

"Those are some of hardest pin locations collectively I've ever seen," said No. 2-ranked Jon Rahm, who shot 68 and is in contention, five shots off the lead.<\/p>\n

A number of other big names were unable to launch a challenge.<\/p>\n

Top-ranked Dustin Johnson started four shots off the lead but plunged out of contention by making five bogeys in his opening 11 holes. Two late birdies could give him only a 73, leaving him eight shots behind.<\/p>\n

Brooks Koepka, a four-time major champion, was a shot further back after managing a round of only 72.<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy started much further back but reached the turn at 4 under for the championship after making five birdies. The back nine was another story and McIlroy threw an iron to the ground \u2014 he called it a "little toss" \u2014 during a run of three bogeys in five holes on his way to shooting 69, his first round in the 60s at Royal St. George's.<\/p>\n

It left him on only one-under and with no chance of a second claret jug.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Instead, Corey Conners (66) and Scottie Scheffler (69) moved into contention at 8 under while Rahm \u2014 looking to add the British Open to his U.S. Open from last month \u2014 was 7 under alongside MacKenzie Hughes and Dylan Frittelli.<\/p>\n

Marcel Siem, who qualified from the second-tier Challenge Tour in Europe only last week, rebounded from an 8 after going out-of-bounds at the par-5 14th with two birdies in his final three holes. He was in a three-way tie for ninth place, six off the lead.<\/p>\n

All of them are chasing Oosthuizen, who won the Open in 2010 and has rung up a career Grand Slam of runner-up finishes since then. That includes the U.S. Open last month, when he was leading with two holes to play until Rahm's birdie-birdie finish. He also was runner-up in the PGA Championship to Phil Mickelson.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So flawless for so long, Louis Oosthuizen started making his worst swings of the week as his two-shot lead evaporated in the British Open on […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101584"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101586,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101584\/revisions\/101586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}