A brilliant winner of the 2010 Open at St Andrews, the South African has one of the most admired swings in the game.

Louis Oosthuizen continues the rich tradition of South Africa punching above its weight as a golfing power.

Oosthuizen became the sixth South African to win a Major when he caused a massive upset at the 2010 Open Championship.

His quest to add to that solitary Major has seen him come painfully close but fall narrowly short on several occasions. He has finished as runner-up in all four Majors, losing playoffs at the 2012 Masters and the 2015 British Open, while narrowly missing out on three separate occasions in 2021.

Oosthuizen credits the round of 57 he shot at the Mossel Bay Golf Course in 2002 with giving him the self-belief to pursue a career in the sport.

His professional success has largely been confined to the European Tour and the affiliated Sunshine Tour, which is based in his native South Africa.

Winning the 2013 Volvo Golf Champions propelled Oosthuizen to a career-high fourth place in the Official World Golf Rankings.

In a career spanning two decades, Oosthuizen has won 14 professional events and represented South Africa in the 2011 World Cup of Golf.

Oosthuizen has also represented the International team against the United States in the Presidents Cup four times (2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019).

In 2016, he lost in the final of the WGC Match Play to Jason Day, which remains the closest he has come to winning a World Golf Championship.

Louis Oosthuizen at the 2020 Masters

He received material support from fellow South African golfer Ernie Els during the early days of his career through the former world number one's charitable foundation.

Oosthuizen doesn't have the power game of some of the latest generation of golfers but his smooth, rythmical swing is one of the most admired in the game.

Amateur career

Oosthuizen was a well-traveled amateur who won titles not only in his native South Africa but also as far afield as Ireland and India.

As a teenager, Oosthuizen announced himself by claiming the 2000 World Junior Championship at the famous Torrey Pines Golf Course.

He won two provincial amateur titles in South Africa and won gold at the 2001 All-Africa Games in Kenya.

Oosthuizen's father was a farmer from Mossel Bay and, unable to find the funds to support his promising career, the Ernie Els Foundation ensured that Oosthuizen was able to fulfil his potential and ultimately turn professional in 2002.

Turning pro

In his debut season as a professional, Oosthuizen's best finish was a tie for fifth place at the Stanbic Zambia Open in Africa.

A year on, he would claim his first professional win at the Vodacom Origins of Golf at Arabella, carding a 1-under 215 in the three-round tournament.

Oosthuizen challenged for the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2005, one of the Sunshine Tour's premier events, but came off second best to Ernie Els at Leopard Creek. He had also claimed top-10 finishes at the Dimension Data Pro-Am in January and the Telkom PGA Championship in February.

The European Tour is calling

Oosthuizen earned a European Tour card through the 2005 Q School, where he finished in a tie for fourth. He is the only 2005 Q School graduate to go on to win a Major.

Oosthuizen began to split his time between the Sunshine Tour and turning out for events in Europe and Asia.

A tie for 14th at the Andalucia Open de Espana was his best showing in his first European Tour campaign as a full member.

In 2007, he notched three victories on the Sunshine Tour, narrowly missing out on claiming the Order of Merit. He made a single appearance on the PGA Tour, finishing tied 50th at the WGC-CA Championship.

The following year, he expanded his involvement in the world's richest golf tour, making the cut in two out of three starts. Back home, he also won the Telkom PGA Championship in February.

Oosthuizen's early attempts at Major glory did not go according to plan as he missed the cut at The Masters, the British Open and the PGA Championship in 2009. But he did come close to a first victory on the European Tour in January when he finished runner-up at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and the Qatar Masters on successive weekends.

Taste of Major success but also near misses

Oosthuizen would enjoy a breakout year in 2010, winning on the European Tour for the first time at the Open de Andalucia de Golf, but he couldn't have foreseen how much his life would change in a few short months.

Ranked outside of the world's top 50 coming into the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews, Oosthuizen stunned the world of golf with a dominant display. In the second round, he seized the lead from Rory McIlroy and went on a charge that would see him win the Claret Jug by seven strokes.

Oosthuizen pushed for another Major but second would be the best he could manage. He finished as runner-up at the 2012 Masters and in 2015 came second at both the US Open and Open Championship. In 2017, he fell just short yet again, this time at the PGA Championship.

On his way to finishing as a bridesmaid at the 2012 Masters, he made history with an incredible albatross at the par-5 second hole.

His playoff defeat to Bubba Watson at The Masters and subsequent heartbreaks in the other American Majors means, amazingly, he's still yet to win a tournament on US soil.

His last professional win came at the 2018 South African Open but he's had a spate of near misses since - mostly in Majors.

In 2021, he was the halfway leader at the PGA before finishing tied second and then had to settle for another runner-up finish after being pipped by Jon Rahm in the US Open after the Spaniard birdied the final two holes.

Oosthuizen looked set for redemption in the following month's Open Championship at Royal St George's where he held the 54-hole lead but once more the win wouldn't come. His T3 means he's now had eight top threes in Majors since winning the 2010 Claret Jug.

Louis Oosthuizen's personal life

Born to humble farming stock, Oosthuizen is a family man who enjoys life's simple things.

He married childhood sweetheart Nel-Mare in 2007 and the couple have three children. They have a home in Mossel Bay as well as a residence in Jupiter, Florida, a popular locale among PGA Tour golfers.

His family are mad about tennis, with both his father and brother more keen on swinging a racket than a golf club.

Louis Oosthuizen's net worth

Oosthuizen has an estimated net worth of $20million.

He owns a restaurant in his hometown of Mossel Bay called Route 57, which serves his own brand of wine called Louis 57.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Louis Oosthuizen (@louisoosthuizen57)

It is not uncommon for a Major winner to splash out on a new luxury vehicle to celebrate, but Oosthuizen bought himself a John Deere tractor with his British Open prize money.

He sold his seven-bedroom house within Old Palm Golf Club in January 2020 for $5.5million. The house was built in 2014.

Oosthuizen has collected more than $22million in prize money and enjoys lucrative marketing relationships with UPS and NetJets. His equipment and attire are supplied by Ping, Titleist, Izod, FootJoy and SwitchGrips.

Being the benefactor of aid from a golfing foundation, Oosthuizen established the Louis 57 Academy at Mossel Bay Golf Club as part of a golf development program serving underprivileged children in the community.

Louis Oosthuizen

Twitter

Instagram