(REUTERS)-Unfancied South African Louis Oosthuizen kept his cool to claim a first Major  title with a crushing seven-stroke victory in the Open at St Andrews, the home of golf
“It’s unbelievable, after the 12th hole it actually became difficult having such a big lead, to keep calm, and I’m glad I had those (spare) shots on 18 because I cramped a little with the putter,” said Oosthuizen.
“It’s just amazing. It will probably hit me tomorrow but I felt like I played well all week.”
The world number 54’s win made a mockery of the form book. Not only had he never made an Open cut before but it was only his second professional win outside South Africa while his previous best finish in a Major was 73rd in the 2008 US PGA Championship.
World number one Tiger Woods endured another torrid day on the famed links and even his decision to restore the putter he ditched for Thursday’s opening round failed to produce results.
His outward 37, scarred by two double bogeys, saw him sink down the field to finish on three-under in a tie for 23rd.
“You just can’t play and expect to win golf tournaments if you have nine or 10 three-putts in a week,” said Woods who won the last two Opens staged here. “No one can win doing that.”
McIlroy’s second-round 80 looked bad when he finished on Friday, it looked even more costly yesterday after his closing 68 maintained the 21-year-old’s run of never carding a round in the 70s here.
“I couldn’t help but think about Friday going up the last hole there,” he said. “If I had just sort of stuck in a little bit more on Friday and held it together more, it could have been a different story.”
Westwood was delighted to emerge from a wretched week of putting, where nothing really dropped for him, by going one better than his tie for third at Turnberry last year.
“I keep putting myself into contention in these Major championships and keep finishing in the top three. It’s not really to be sniffed at and complained about,” he said.
South Korea’s Jin Jeong made sure of the Silver Medal for leading amateur, signing off in style with an eagle two at the 72nd hole for a share of 14th place.