It’s Oosthuizen’s to lose on the final day of The 2010 Open
Published:Bar any final day miracles, this should now be a two horse race for the Claret Jug between Louis Oosthuizen and Paul Casey.
But even so, it promises to be gripping until the very last hole.
In the penultimate round, Oosthuizen (now at 4/5 to win the tournament) proved that he’s made of pretty stern stuff, coping well with the pressure, and posting impressive birdies on the 16th and 18th holes.
He started the round with a five shot lead, and lost just one, so goes in to today’s final round with his closest rival, Paul Casey (current odds of 5/2), still four shots behind.
The likes of Kaymer (14/1), Westwood (14/1), Stenson (20/1) and Canizares (40/1) will all need to get off to absolute fliers, littered with birdies, to even slightly threaten the top.
An unlikely scenario.
Paul Casey, however, does have a chance.
With a great round of 67 in the third, Casey’s game has been on the ascendancy, whilst Oosthuizen has added two shots to his total in each round.
He scored an impressive 65 in Round One, then 67 in Round Two, before going around in 69 yesterday.
Should Casey maintain his steady improvement – which has seen his odds shift from 8/1 before Round Three, to 5/2 today – and Oosthuizen continue his drift towards the early 70s, then it could yet promise a nail-biting finale.
Casey would, of course, be the first Englishman to win The Open since Nick Faldo 18 years ago. He said this:
“Nick’s a hero of mine.”
“If I could emulate just a fraction of his achievements, it would be extraordinary.”
Can Casey emulate Faldo by winning The Open? See the full 2010 Open Championship market.
