Louis Oosthuizen - Champion Golfer of the Year

When did the song become lodged in your head, playing over and over, never knowing what the actual lyrics are? Was it sometime Friday morning when he took over the lead for the first time? Or was it Saturday morning as he waited to hit his tee shot on the famous first tee at St. Andrews? Or was it on about the 12th hole Sunday morning when the fat lady started her rendition....."Louis Louis....oh no....said we got go.....yeah yeah yeah yeah....." OK, so those aren't exactly the correct lyrics, but that's how it sounds in my head, and this is a PG rated blog.

Louis Oosthuizen, whose name was pronounced this weekend more ways than there are Baskin Robbins flavors, hoisted the Claret Jug after winning his first major championship. But Louis (it's much easier if you just call him Louis, kind of like Madonna or Prince) didn't just win, he won going away and he won in style. Tom Watson and Paul Azinger ranked his driving performance among the best they had ever seen in major championship history. It was almost as if he was out for a nice, relaxed practice round Monday morning with a couple of old buddies.

He laughed and joked around with Paul Casey, his playing partner in the final group, like they were old college chums enjoying a little male bonding time away from family. Azinger mentioned this on the first hole and said that Casey has a knack for lulling his playing partner into a false sense of security and then pouncing on him like a hungry lion. But Louis never flinched. He never faltered. He played as steady and relaxed a final round as anyone I can remember.

Ooshuizen's failure to succumb to the pressure and let Casey or Westwood have an inch ultimately made for a somewhat, dare I say, boring championship. Yes, there was no push from Phil or Tiger or Westwood, or anyone for that matter. But for true golf fans, the performance of little Louis Oosthuizen, or Shrek as he is sometimes affectionately referred to, should be remembered for the clinical and strategic way he attacked the course, and his unwavering grit in the face of a golfing world just waiting for him to fail.

Well played Louis. See you in 2011 at Royal St. Georges.