PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Louis Oosthuizen is 36 holes away from joining one of the game’s most exclusive clubs.
The South African, who shot 1-under 71 Friday at the U.S. Open to move into solo third and three shots back of leader Gary Woodland, can become just the third player to win major championships at St. Andrews and Pebble Beach. Oosthuizen won the 2010 Open Championship on the Old Course for his lone PGA Tour victory and can join Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win a Grand Slam on two of the game’s most iconic venues.
He will need to clean up his scorecard on the weekend if he’s going to make history. He had six bogeys Friday after posting just a single bogey on Day 1.
“Seven birdies and six bogeys. I'm not a big fan of bogeys, I had a lot of bogeys on my scorecard,” said Oosthuizen, who hit just 11 of 18 greens in regulation. “But you miss these greens, it's so difficult around the greens out of the rough. And you can't control the ball. You basically are guessing what it's going to do.”
Following a decent start to his round, Oosthuizen turned in 1 under par before things got wild with bogeys at Nos. 10, 12, 13 and 16. His only par on the closing nine came at the par-5 18th hole.