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British Open champ Oosthuizen in the lead again

Thu 22nd, July 2010

Stockholm, Sweden (Sports Network) - British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen has played his way to the top of another leaderboard.

Four days after winning his first major, Oosthuizen shot a five-under 67 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Scandinavian Masters with Dustin Johnson and Richard Green.

It marked the fourth round in a row that the 27-year-old South African's name was atop a leaderboard. Oosthuizen cruised to a seven-shot win Sunday at St. Andrews, where he led after each of the last three rounds.

Finding little time to sleep since then -- or do anything else but talk about his big win -- Oosthuizen said he was nervous about not putting on a good show Thursday for the gallery that came to watch the new Open champion.

"The crowd's been unbelievable," he said. "It was really nice and I think it pushed me a bit to sort of focus out there."

Oosthuizen made a long birdie putt at the 18th hole to match Green's 67 on the Stadium Course at Bro Hof Slott Golf Club. Johnson, the third-round leader at last month's U.S. Open, joined them later after he also birdied the 18th.

The trio shared a one-shot lead over K.J. Choi, Steven Jeppesen, Rafa Echenique and Scottish Open winner Edoardo Molinari.

Oosthuizen's first post-Open round in competition started with a birdie at No. 1, but he strung together eight consecutive pars after that, saying he felt sluggish on the front nine.

He picked up five more birdies on the back nine, while also dropping his only shot of the round with a bogey at the 13th hole, where he knocked a shot into the water.

Looking like he would settle for a share of second place, Oosthuizen instead holed a 30-foot birdie putt at the 18th to join Green in the lead.

"I hit some nice shots and made some nice putts at the end there," he said.

Oosthuizen's 67 came on the heels of a poor outing in the pro-am on Wednesday when he didn't break par. He said he had a great night's sleep, but still woke up tired on Thursday morning -- the result of a whirlwind four days filled with phone calls and interviews.

One of the best things about being back on the course?

"It's nice being inside the ropes knowing my cell phone is switched off and no one can contact me," Oosthuizen said.

Johnson is coming off a tie for 14th place at the British Open. He held the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open, but got off to a disastrous start and shot an 82, falling into a share of eighth.

The 26-year-old American was the only one of the co-leaders who shot a bogey- free round on Thursday.

"I hit the ball well all day, had a lot of good looks at birdies and didn't make any putts. But it's still five-under. I'm never going to be mad at that," said Johnson.

Green, a 39-year-old Australian, mixed seven birdies with two bogeys, making it into the clubhouse first with a 67. He also birdied the 18th hole after making bogey at the 17th.

NOTES: Defending champion Ricardo Gonzalez opened with an even-par 72...Oosthuizen was the fourth South African to win the British Open, joining Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Ernie Els.