Louis Oosthuizen rates the field that will play at the LIV tournament at Steyn City next month as one of the strongest assembled in South Africa since the early 2000s.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Sunday Times in Riyadh last week, the 43-year-old described how his near misses in three of the four majors in 2021 broke him, but that LIV had renewed his passion for the game.
The $30m (R478m) prize purse for the March 19-22 event is the biggest to be offered on South African soil, surpassing those during the heyday of the Million Dollar, which became the Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC).
“Having a field this strong — the last time was probably in the 2000s with the Nedbank — to bring guys like Jon [Rahm], Bryson [DeChambeau], DJ [Dustin Johnson], Joaquin [Niemann], all these guys to South Africa to play, it’s great for our country. It was big work getting the tournament.”
Oosthuizen recalled with fondness the high-profile limited line-ups that used to feature at the NGC. “The fields were freaking unbelievable, like Sergio [Garcia], Ernie [Els], Retief [Goosen], all those guys. [The fans] are hungry for a strong, strong field again.”
With LIV changing its tournament format to 72 holes after tickets for the South African event went on sale, the remaining availability was for Thursday’s opening round, said Oosthuizen.
Having a field this strong... to bring guys like Jon [Rahm], Bryson [DeChambeau], DJ [Dustin Johnson], Joaquin [Niemann], all these guys to South Africa... it’s great for our country.
— Louis Oosthuizen, SA golfer
Oosthuizen, who lifted the Claret Jug in 2010, has finished as runner-up in six majors, including losing playoffs at the US Masters and the Open.
The fact that he ended just six shots away from winning a grand slam — one stroke at the 2012 US Masters, two at the 2021 US Open, and three at the 2021 PGA Championship — illustrates his class.
In 2021 he ended second at the US Open and PGA Championship and third at the Open. “That sort of broke me a little bit because I couldn’t give it really much more than I had.”
He was keen to take time away from the sport, and that’s when the offer to join LIV arrived. “I was very intrigued with the team aspect of it … I fell in love with the format and the team aspect of it immediately...
“That really got me back and gave me a little bit of love for the game that I feel I lost.”
Oosthuizen, who has a stake in the Southern Guards team he captains, admitted the recent rebranding from Stingers, necessitated by a trademark issue, had initially been a blow. “We didn’t take it well in the beginning, but then we really got into the idea of our identity and seeing how we can do it even better,” he said.
For him, the team is a South African entity. “We’re South African boys. As long as I’m captain, it will be four South Africans playing, and hopefully when I’m done with golf, that would be the same.”
Oosthuizen was among the top-ranked South Africans who declined invitations to compete when golf was reintroduced to the Olympics at Rio 2016.
Team South Africa equalled their best-ever haul of 10 medals, but a full-strength golf team might have lifted them to an unprecedented 11. “Back then my whole golf schedule, everything, was around majors. There were lots of bigger tournaments I didn’t play because it would hurt me in majors.
“[But] looking back now, I’d say I’d probably have given a bigger push to maybe go [to Rio] because representing your country is always great … My view has changed a little bit on it.”
Oosthuizen was among the first group of players to join LIV, a tour he said was the most transparent he had experienced. “I feel I know everything that’s going on behind the scenes. We have regular meetings with Scott [O’Neil, the LIV CEO]. I think [in] my time on the PGA Tour, I was involved in two or three meetings maybe with other players speaking to Jay Monahan [PGA Tour commissioner].”
Oosthuizen believes there’s plenty of local talent to win the country’s first major since Els’s Open triumph in 2012, including his two Southern Guards teammates, Branden Grace and Dean Burmester.
“[They] have definitely got what it takes to win a major, Branden especially a US Open or Open. And you have other guys coming through,” he added, naming the likes of Garrick Higgo, Jayden Schaper, Christo Lamprecht, and even Christiaan Maas, when he turns pro.
As for himself, Oosthuizen says his major days are over. “I’m definitely not putting in the work now that I did back then ... Everyone’s getting better, golf is getting younger, the guys are hitting it farther, and I’m not,” he said with a laugh.
“But when I get in the right mode and zone, I still feel I can play with the best.”
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