Louis Oosthuizen still in hunt after rollercoaster second round

By Teddy Allen

Correspondent

After missing the cut the past three years, Louis Oosthuizen felt “a little odd” as the mid-afternoon leader in the clubhouse after his second round 72 Friday.

“I’m usually packing and picking kids up now,” said the South African, whose 140 total led the tournament for a couple of hours. After shooting 68 on Thursday, Friday’s round was hot-and-cold, literally. He mixed four birdies in with two bogeys and a double.

Oosthuizen teed off at 8:34 Friday morning in the cold and wind. By 9, things were extra chilly; his double-bogey 7 on the 575-yard second hole was followed by a pick-me-up birdie on 3 ‑ but then he bogeyed Nos. 4 and 5.

“At three over after five, you get the feeling it’s not going to be a good day,” he said. “It wasn’t a good morning, for sure; that’s a 39 on the front.”

But the wind is bound to change, and it did, literally. He took off his wool hat at No. 11, and his birdie attempt scared the cup. As the weather warmed a bit more, he took off his jacket on the 14th fairway and started to heat up; an iron to the top shelf set up a 10-foot putt for his par.

He birdied 16 from four feet and hit an 8-iron to five feet on 17 on the way to his third birdie on the back, his fourth of the round. Because of last-moment wind shifts, he backed off clubs on both holes, opting for a 9 iron on the 16th tee and an 8 iron on the 17th fairway.

“It was two different courses out there today,” he said. “On the

front, it was cold; the ball didn’t go anywhere. The wind was all

wrong. It was so different today on the back. Tough start, but I knew I just needed to hang on.”

He’s getting a “feel,” he said, for Augusta National that only

experience can give you. So how does a young British Open champ play poorly in Augusta’s Friday morning British Open weather, then shoot a 33 in the sunshine?

“I can’t explain it,” Oosthuizen said, smiling and shaking his head. “I thought it would be fine this morning, but it got cold out there, then it looked like it was going to stay like that the whole day. I just hung in there and made a few birdies coming in — going into the weekend, it’s a great opportunity and a great spot to be in.”