It opened the door for Schwartzel to attempt to force a play-off, but his second shot to the par five only narrowly missed the water at the side of the green, and his wedge shot wasn’t much closer than Oosthuizen’s fourth. A mistake at the par four 17th saw the leader’s par save slide by the hole to reduce his lead to two, and his tee shot at the 18th hit a tree and found its way into the stream that separates the 18th and ninth holes at Leopard Creek Golf Club. While it initially seemed a comfortable advantage, there was still drama to be had. With long putts of his own for back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14, he then hit another excellent wedge shot at the 15th to help seal a three shot advantage with three to play. Tied at the top with Schwartzel on 16 under par, Oosthuizen almost immediately gained an advantage due to an expert up and down as the four-time champion hit a wayward approach into the trees and had to scramble for an opening bogey to drop one behind.Īfter trading pars at the ninth and three-putts for bogey at ten, both men responded with a birdie at the 11th: After Oosthuizen spun his wedge shot back beautifully past the pin to set up his birdie, Schwartzel sunk his own gain with a putt from off the green.Ī second long putt in as many holes saw Schwartzel briefly climb back alongside the leader, but from there it was Oosthuizen who pulled ahead. “I had a good run there through 13 to 15 and I’m glad to see Charl with all the things he was going through with his shoulder with injuries that he’s playing well and I just got lucky on this one.”Īfter threat of lightning and heavy rain meant the final group could complete just seven holes on day four, the final group returned to the eighth fairway on Monday morning just after at 9am local time to resume their final rounds.

It’s such a great place to come to, and this is a tournament that I really really wanted. I can’t believe we got a fourth round in with everything we got. I just got on that tee shot and wanted to hit a seven wood but with all the rain it felt like it was so wet while we were standing I thought I’m just going to hit my driver down the left and obviously made a bad swing. Rupes put a text this morning that said whoever plays 18 thinking the best is going to win.

I wouldn’t say 18 was kind to me this time, but I managed it a little bit, maybe not on the last hole there but I got it through. It’s always a great place coming back to. “This is one of the tournaments that I’ve always wanted to win,” said Oosthuizen, who completed 11 holes of his final round on Monday.

Luck o' the irish won game