St Andrews: A longshot he might have been, but looking back, all the omens were there this week for Louis Oosthuizen to play the best golf of his life and win the British Open.
First of all, 2010 has been billed as South Africa's year with the successful hosting of football's World Cup and then Sunday, the final day of the tournament, fell on Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday.
Oosthuizen, a happy-go-lucky 27-year-old who bears the nickname of Shrek as his friends believe he resembles the swamp-loving movie ogre, had not been aware of the Mandela celebrations until just before he set off for the course.
"I woke up this morning and I didn't know it was his birthday today, but I saw it this morning on the news, on the internet. It felt a bit special out there," he said.
"And you know, when I walked down 18, I was thinking about his birthday and then my manager also gave me a list of things, and it was also in there.
"So it worked out. What he's done for our country is unbelievable, so ‘Happy Birthday' to him once again."
Oosthuizen, whose one and only top-level tour win came at the lowly Andalucia Open in March, carried a four-stroke lead into the final round and he held firm to finally win by a whopping seven strokes.
Taking advice
He was the fourth player from his country to win the world's oldest and most prestigious tournament after Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Ernie Els and though he knows little of the former, who died in 1987, the two others have been bending his ear.
Els, the Open winner at Muirfield in 2002 and who has been fundamental through his foundation in nurturing young South African talent like Oosthuizen, called him on Saturday to give him his advice.
On Sunday morning, it was the turn of Player, who won three Open titles in three different decades from the 1950s.
"We had a little chat. It was nice. He spoke in my home language, Afrikaans," said Oosthuizen.
"He first spoke to my wife, and then he was saying just to stay calm out there, have a lot of fun, and he said that the crowd was probably going to be on Paul's [Casey] side.
"But then he told me the story when he played against Arnold Palmer when he won his first Masters.
"He said, ‘They wanted to throw stuff at me.' But he was so focused on beating him in Augusta.
"So you know, it meant a lot, him phoning me up."
Oosthuizen says he has drawn inspiration from recent successes in the majors by South African players.
Apart from Els, who has also US Open titles to his credit in 1994 and 1997, Retief Goosen has won two US Opens in 2001 and 2004 and Trevor Immelman won the 2008 Masters.
"I think at the moment we've got one of the best junior and amateur setups there is. We've got a very good basis around that," Oosthuizen said.
Perfect weather
"Also the weather in South Africa is brilliant. It's just becoming a really good sport. Wintertime, you can still play some days in shorts there."
Given the way he is playing, it may be some time before Oosthuizen gets the chance to do that as his northern hemisphere summers will be taken up with preparing for and playing in the four majors, for which he is now exempt for some time.
Final round:
272 - Louis Ooosthuizen (RSA) 65-67-69-71
279 - Lee Westwood (ENG) 67-71-71-70
280 - Rory McIlroy (NIR) 63-80-69-68, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 68-74-67-71, Paul Casey (ENG) 69-69-67-75
281 - Retief Goosen (RSA) 69-70-72-70
282 - Robert Rock (ENG) 68-78-67-69, Sean O'Hair (USA) 67-72-72-71, Nick Watney (USA) 67-73-71-71, Martin Kaymer (GER) 69-71-68-74
283 - Alvaro Quiros (ESP) 72-70-74-67, Jeff Overton (USA) 73-69-72-69, Luke Donald (ENG) 73-72-69-69
284 - Rickie Fowler (USA) 79-67-71-67, Tom Lehman (USA) 71-68-75-70, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 71-75-68-70, Ignacio Garrido (ESP) 69-71-73-71, Jin Jeong (KOR -a) 68-70-74-72, Robert Karlsson (SWE) 69-71-72-72, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 71-71-70-72, JB Holmes (USA) 70-72-70-72, Dustin Johnson (USA) 69-72-69-74
285 - Trevor Immelman (RSA) 68-74-75-68, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 71-68-76-70, Steven Gallacher (SCO) 71-73-70-71, Tiger Woods (USA) 67-73-73-72.
