Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa has a history of performing well at the British Open. His success started in 2010, when he destroyed the field at St. Andrews, as he shot a four-round score of -16, and beat runner-up Lee Westwood of England by seven full strokes. To put Oosthuizen’s dominance at the British Open 11 years ago into perspective, only one other player in golf over the last two decades at the British Open has won by a wider margin. That was Tiger Woods, who beat Thomas Bjorn of Denmark and Ernie Els of South Africa by eight strokes at St. Andrews in 2000. Then in 2015, Oosthuizen narrowly won the British Open again, but lost in a playoff to Zach Johnson of the United States.
On Friday in the second round of the 2021 British Open at Royal St. George’s, Oosthuizen shot an impressive five-under-par 65. That was one day after the South African superstar shot a six-under-par 64.
Oosthuizen’s -11 over 36 holes is the second best score after round two in the history of the major championships in men’s golf. The only player with a better score after the first two round two of a major is Brooks Koepka of West Palm Beach, Florida, who was at -12 at the 2019 PGA Championship. Koepka went on to win the title, even though he shot a third round score of even, and a fourth round score of four-over par, to finish the tournament at -8. Koepka beat Dustin Johnson by two strokes.
On Friday, Oosthuizen had four birdies, one eagle, and one bogey. Two Americans meanwhile are in striking distance. Collin Morikawa is two strokes back at -9, and Jordan Spieth is three strokes back at -8.
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