March 28, 2010

PING pro Louis Oosthuizen had played in The Masters before but hadn’t lifted a European Tour trophy in his seven-year career. Now, with his win at the Open Andalucia de Golf, he’s going back to Augusta as a champion. His first career title on the European circuit moved him inside the top 50 in the world rankings and earned him an automatic invite to the year’s first major.

A four-time runner-up on the European Tour, including last week at the Trophee Hassan II, Oosthuizen battled nerves coming down the stretch but prevailed to win by three at the event hosted by fellow PING pro Miguel Angel Jimenez. The South African’s final round 67 on the Parador de Malaga Golf course lifted him to 17-under-par for the week.

"I was quite nervous down the stretch and very nervous on the 18th tee,” said Oosthuizen, a three-time winner on the South African Tour who is now 40-under-par for his last two events. "I just decided to hit it as hard as I could."

For the second straight week, Oosthuizen found himself in the final group of the day and protecting the lead with one round to play. Unlike last week, where PING pro Rhys Davies carded a final round 66 to steal the title from Oosthuizen, the 27-year-old extended his lead early and never looked back.

“Now I want to stay in the top 50 and be competitive every time I play,” said Oosthuizen, whose second round 63 moved him atop the leaderboard for good.

A change to the PING Rapture V2 driver before the tournament gave him added confidence off the tee. He also relied on S57 irons, Tour-W wedges, G5 fairway woods and an Anser putter. The win moved Oosthuizen to 8th place in the European Tour Race to Dubai standings.