The Open day 2: Louis Oosthuizen remains one to catch, but he refuses to tempt fate

South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen on the 18th green during day two of The Open at The Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent. Picture date: Friday July 16, 2021.

It's not so long ago that early retirement and life on his newly-purchased 90-acre farm in Florida appeared to beckon for Louis Oosthuizen.

A rancher at heart (the syrup-swinging South African also owns a 150-acre farm in his native country), golf isn’t even his first love.

But after a few lean years, he’s getting very good at it again, and alongside Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm in a three-ball that shot a combined 16-under-par yesterday, the 2010 Open champion put on a clinic at Royal St George’s.

Well, for 15 holes at least, with birdies at 12 and 13 followed by an eagle on the par-5 15th which temporarily took him to 12-under-par.

To think that Reg Whitcombe won this same championship on the same punishing links back in 1938 with a 15-over-par tally.

The wind wreaked havoc back then, while yesterday’s north-easterly breeze lay down on the Kent coast as the day went on, allowing the afternoon starters to fill their boots.

Oosthuizen and Lowry shot 65s while pre-tournament favourite Rahm went one better with a 64, igniting his own challenge.

At the end of it all, Oosthuizen sits at 11-under, two clear of 2020 USPGA winner Collin Morikawa, who equalled Rahm’s 64 earlier in the day. A further shot back sits Jordan Spieth, the 2017 Open champion.

The farm can wait then for a rejuvenated Oosthuizen, though as he limped home in one-over for the last four holes, coughing up a weak bogey on the 16th and giving everyone around him, including Lowry, hope, he may have wondered what an easier life might look like.

The pressure to rid himself of his nearly-man-in-majors tag, having finished runner-up in them all, will be on his shoulders this weekend.

“Right now, I think, where my game is at, I just need to put myself in position, and this year is the best year I’ve been putting, and I just need to hit greens and give myself any opportunities for birdies,” said Oosthuizen, laying out a simple plan for the weekend.

Sensibly, he won’t tempt fate.

“You try and not think about it [winning] until you’ve done it. I remember in 2010, and I know I had a big lead, but the first time I really thought about ‘I can win this tournament’ was after my tee shot on 17.”

From Lowry’s perspective, his 65, propelling him 57 places up the leaderboard from where he began the day, has left him in the mix to retain the Claret Jug.

Key to the Offaly man’s strong showing was a chat he had beforehand with coach Neil Manchip about going easier on himself.

“We talked through Thursday’s round, and I felt that I was a bit hard on myself, that I didn’t play as bad as I’d felt I did,” said Lowry, who began the final Major of the year with a 71. “So I just kind of trusted myself to go out there today and shoot a good score, and thankfully I did.”

An improvement from the tee also helped, even if Lowry did carve his opening drive 40 yards into the thick rough.

“I actually didn’t hit many drives out there today, I hit a lot of three-irons off the tee. We got very fortunate with the weather, the course firmed up, and there wasn’t as much wind as maybe there was in the morning and I was able to hit a lot of three-irons off the tee.

“I said to ‘Bo’ (Martin, caddie): ‘I feel like if I’m on a fairway and if I have an iron shot that no matter what club it is, from six-iron down, I feel like I can give myself chances.’

“So we just focused on putting ourselves in good positions off the tee. It paid off. I think as it firms up over the weekend, it will actually suit me a little bit better as well. I don’t really need to hit driver.

“I hit a couple of decent drives, but I think I only hit four drivers in total, that’s all I hit.”

Lowry admitted it was a joy to play in such a competitive group, saying: “We kind of bounced off each other and it does help when everyone in the group is playing well.

“When you’re playing with someone who is leading the tournament, it does spur you on to try to catch them.

“I was out there trying to get as many shots as I could back on Louis towards the end because I knew he was going to be the leader going into the weekend.

“We had a great day out there, 16-under for a three-ball around St George’s is pretty good.

“I’m not sure many three-balls will better that.”

Having guaranteed earlier in the week that he would be in the mix on Sunday, Brooks Koepka turned the corner on a slow start to shoot 66, placing him at five-under. He was level-par on the fifth tee box and reeled off seven birdies from there.

Spieth was also throwing darts at greens at times and benefiting from his accuracy off the tee, which is rarely his strength. Morikawa remains the leading American, nicely poised at nine-under in second spot.

Earlier in the week, Morikawa bought himself a games console to pass the time in his ‘bubble’ away from the course and, at times, it was like he was still in PlayStation mode as he hit the turn in 31 strokes, coming home in 33.

He made a couple of significant alterations that made it possible, firstly changing his putter grip to a conventional one from everything outside of 30 feet — it was the only way he could get the ball to the hole on the slow surfaces — and also switching his seven, eight, and nine irons from blades to cavities.