It took longer than expected but it was well worth the wait as Louis Oosthuizen won the Alfred Dunhill Championship by two strokes at Leopard Creek on Monday to finally claim a title he has sought for most of his career.
A storm on Sunday and the subsequent suspension of the final round forced the tournament into a Monday finish.
But after twice finishing runner-up in this event, Oosthuizen was happy to wait as long as needed to claim a title he has desperately wanted.
🔟 Tour victories for @Louis57TM! #DunhillChamps pic.twitter.com/KOCWz17kgq
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 11, 2023
“It feels good. I’ve waited a long time for this one and it’s very special. This and the SA Open are the two events in South Africa that I always wanted to win. I’m very happy,” said Oosthuizen after a final round of 69 and a winning total of 18 under par.
Charl Schwartzel finished second on 16 under par with a closing 71, while Christiaan Bezuidenhout took third place on 14 under par with a final round of 68.
Oosthuizen and Schwartzel were tied for the lead on 16 under par through seven holes of the final round when Sunday’s storm suspended play. They resumed on Monday morning and the two Major winners matched each other on the magnificent Leopard Creek layout before a run of three straight birdies from the 13th gave Oosthuizen the edge.
“I knew Charl was going to be around all day because he likes this golf course and he knows how to play it. I think it was those three putts (for birdie) that got me ahead. It’s tough to be very aggressive over the last few holes so I could sort of just hang on to making pars,” said Oosthuizen.
He had a three-shot lead with two holes to play and admits that Leopard Creek’s tough finishing stretch took it out of him.
“I didn’t have a great lie on 17 and ended up making bogey there and then on 18 I made par the hard way. But that’s what this golf course does. It’s such a good finishing golf course that you need to just hold on.”
How it finished 📊#DunhillChamps
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 11, 2023
SCORES:
270 - Louis Oosthuizen 70 68 63 69
272 - Charl Schwartzel 68 68 65 71
274 - Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68 70 68 68
278 - Darius van Driel 70 72 69 67, Matti Schmid 72 69 67 70, Marco Penge 69 66 72 71
279 - Alejandro Del Rey 72 71 66 70, Casey Jarvis 67 67 74 71, Jayden Schaper 66 72 70 71, Andy Sullivan 68 69 69 73
280 - Thriston Lawrence 73 69 70 68, Matthias Schwab 70 71 70 69, Paul Waring 68 68 74 70
281 - Andrea Pavan 70 70 70 71
282 - Aaron Cockerill 69 72 71 70, Antoine Rozner 71 71 70 70, Matthew Baldwin 74 68 70 70, Dylan Naidoo 70 71 70 71, Ugo Coussaud 68 74 69 71
283 - Dylan Frittelli 72 71 71 69, Edoardo Molinari 70 73 72 68, Renato Paratore 69 70 71 73, Robin Williams 65 71 72 75, Ashun Wu 68 70 69 76
284 - Samuel Jones 67 75 70 72, Jaco Van Zyl 68 74 72 70, Will Enefer 72 71 68 73, JC Ritchie 73 67 70 74, Luca Filippi 68 70 71 75, Christiaan Maas 67 73 69 75, Zander Lombard 73 70 76 65
285 - Manuel Elvira 66 71 75 73, Alexander Levy 71 72 71 71, Erik van Rooyen 68 70 72 75, Wilco Nienaber 72 70 74 69, Sam Bairstow 71 66 72 76, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 70 72 67 76, Kyle Barker 70 67 80 68
286 - Thomas Aiken 71 72 70 73, Joakim Lagergren 68 71 75 72, Neil Schietekat 72 69 74 71, Jamie Donaldson 71 70 75 70, Johannes Veerman 70 71 67 78
287 - Christo Lamprecht 67 69 76 75, Jaco Prinsloo 67 76 70 74, Dale Whitnell 71 69 71 76, Dean Burmester 69 73 75 70
288 - Keenan Davidse 73 66 73 76, Anthony Michael 71 72 70 75, Espen Kofstad 69 72 71 76, Matthis Besard 70 71 71 76, Adrien Saddier 68 75 70 75, Scott Jamieson 67 76 71 74, Francesco Laporta 70 71 75 72, Wynand Dingle 70 68 70 80
289 - James Morrison 69 73 72 75, Mike Lorenzo-Vera 74 69 73 73, Pieter Moolman 70 72 68 79, Joshua Berry 70 73 74 72
291 - Jean Hugo 72 71 72 76
294 - Chase Hanna 72 71 75 76, Andrew Johnston 69 72 78 75, Malcolm Mitchell 69 72 81 72
295 - Nikhil Rama 71 71 74 79
296 - Doug McGuigan 73 70 78 75
RTD - Louis de Jager 70 69 76 RTD, Daniel van Tonder 72 71 73 RTD, Darren Fichardt 69 73 76 RTD
DSQ - Soren Kjeldsen 71 71 74 DSQ, Jeff Winther 74 68 75 DSQ
MISSED THE CUT
144 - Hennie du Plessis 70 74, Yurav Premlall 72 72, Max Rottluff 75 69, Ross Mcgowan 69 75
145 - Conner Mackenzie 73 72, Daniel Bennett 75 70, Angel Hidalgo 70 75, Lorenzo Scalise 71 74, Jesper Svensson 69 76, Heinrich Bruiners 75 70, Jovan Rebula 74 71, David Law 72 73
146 - Branden Grace 76 70, Deon Germishuys 73 73, Matteo Manassero 70 76, Dan Bradbury 74 72, Dylan Mostert 75 71, Anton Karlsson 72 74, Sebastian Garcia 70 76, Jacques Blaauw 69 77, Santiago Tarrio 72 74, Stefan Wears-Taylor 69 77, Ruan Conradie 73 73
147 - Sebastian Friedrichsen 73 74, Martin Rohwer 73 74, Freddy Schott 74 73, Ryan Van Velzen 74 73, Tom Vaillant 73 74, Brandon Stone 77 70, Ross Fisher 75 72, Oliver Bekker 73 74, Matthew Southgate 76 71, Benjamin Rusch 73 74, Alexander Knappe 73 74, Jason Roets 68 79
148 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 75 73, Joachim B. Hansen 76 72, Clement Sordet 73 75, Ivan Cantero 73 75, Robson Chinhoi 74 74, Jacques P de Villiers 72 76, Nick Bachem 79 69, Martin Vorster 73 75, Keagan Thomas 71 77, Mateusz Gradecki 72 76
149 - Filippo Celli 71 78, Ockie Strydom 71 78, Lyle Rowe 75 74, Gavin Green 75 74, Merrick Bremner 78 71, Guido Migliozzi 75 74, Shaun Norris 71 78, Louis Albertse 72 77, Tristen Strydom 76 73
150 - Slenda Sithebe 76 74, Joel Girrbach 74 76, Peter Karmis 76 74, Hunter Epson 76 74, Jack Davidson 71 79, Adam Blomme 73 77
151 - Jeong Weon Ko 73 78, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 79 72, Hennie O'Kennedy 74 77, Rupert Kaminski 78 73, Rourke van der Spuy 77 74
152 - MJ Viljoen 77 75
153 - David Ravetto 78 75, Ruan Korb 78 75, Stuart Manley 79 74
154 - Hennie Otto 79 75, JJ Senekal 80 74, Jonathan Broomhead 77 77, John Axelsen 79 75, Albert Venter 78 76, Trevor Fisher Jnr 79 75
155 - Quintin Wilsnach 75 80
157 - Combrinck Smit 76 81, Toto Thimba Jnr 79 78, Wade Jacobs 76 81
158 - Omar Sandys 78 80
159 - Thabang Simon 81 78
160 - Alphius Kelapile 83 77
161 - Gerhard Pepler 83 78
165 - Jacquin Hess 81 84
169 - Makhetha Mazibuko 85 84
WDN - Ewen Ferguson 78 WDN