One of the greatest things I’ve struggled with while constructing my order of the 13 most dominant performances in the last 13 majors is whether to measure a tournament solely by the four days it occurred, or for its potential impact. That enigma hits hard when you look at this pick. When all is said and done and the chapters written, we may look back on this tournament as some bizarre four-day stretch that the player never vaulted into anything more.
Still, when I looked each of the last 13 up and down, this one fell at #5…
#5 -Louis Oosthuizen at St. Andrews in the 2010 Open Championship
When the 2010 Open Championship ended, everyone tried to make sense of it. They looked at Oosthuizen’s nine-shot victory and tried to justify it. “He won on the European Tour in March so you could see this coming.” …….“He won the 2010 Masters Par 3 contest, so, ya know…”…. “He did just crack the top 50 OWGR a few months back…”
Hogwash with a capital H. Nobody saw this coming. Nobody thought Oosthuizen had a chance to win by a stroke much less blow the field away. Nobody was sitting around Wednesday evening thinking, “that Louis kid’s going to go 65-67-69-71 and just run away with this thing…”
But, he played that well and won a major title. He did what has escaped perennial talents like Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia for years. It’s entirely possible he’ll never be a big time factor on another Sunday major championship hunt, so how do you quantify it?
The setting for one plays a role.St. Andrewsis the home of golf. There are no grounds more hallowed. To be honest, that was the big factor in pushing Oosthuizen’s win this high.
You show up unheralded to the Open Championship atSt. Andrews, make the course your birdie amphitheater and knock the tar out of the field – well that sounds a lot like dominance.
13 – Keegan Bradley, 2011 PGA
12 – Stewart Cink, 2009 British Open
11 – Angel Cabrera, 2009 Masters
10 – Lucas Glover, 2009 US Open
9 – Padraig Harrington, 2008 PGA
8 – Darren Clarke, 2011 British Open
7 – Graeme McDowell, 2010 US Open
6 – Martin Kaymer, 2010 PGA
5– Louis Oosthuizen, 2010 British Open
I agree with this assessment…other than Rory, who out there wants to be a champion? I’m guessing that Rory’s performance at Congo will be your #1. Louis is the modern-day Byron Nelson…wants to make enough money to buy a farm and a shitload of John Deere tractors and equipment for it!