Louis Oosthuizen stumbles at close

After his 3-under-par 69 on Thursday, Louis Oosthuizen offered a simple explanation as to how he shook off the few mishaps he encountered.

“I tried to smile my troubles away when it got difficult,” he said.

The South African needed an awfully big grin to erase the late woes that sabotaged Friday’s second round at the Masters. Sitting with a share of the lead at 4-under after an eagle on No. 13, Oosthuizen stumbled home.

A triple bogey on No. 15 derailed his brief bout of momentum, and a bogey on No. 18 put a sour ending on a round of 3-over 75 that dropped him to even par for the tournament.

“Those things happen,” said Oosthuizen, who still wore a grin after his round, albeit of a somewhat stunned nature. “It’s still early and there’s a lot of golf to be played. And with the way the wind is now, it’s going to be really tough (in the) afternoon. At the moment, five off the pace with 36 to go, I’m happy.”

Oosthuizen finished the day seven off the lead held by Bubba Watson, who beat him in a playoff for the 2012 Masters title.

Had it not been for two ill-fated shots on No. 15, his position would have been much, much better.

After striping his drive down the right side, Oosthuizen grabbed a 4-iron for his approach to the narrow green. He knew it was a lot of club, but after watching playing partner Matt Kuchar put the ball into the front pond with a 3-wood, Oosthuizen felt the situation called for more than usual.

Instead, he air-mailed the green and in trying to pitch back onto the front right pin location, the ball gathered steam and trickled down the front slope and into the pond. Oosthuizen dropped on the far side of the pond, pitched to 50 feet and then three-putted for the triple bogey.

“I’m still trying to figure out how that 4-iron went that far,” he said. “I took more club obviously than I needed, but my play was always pitching five yards from the back fairway, which is fine. But for some reason, it went way too long and into the rough. Seeing Matt hit it into the water with 3-wood, I was thinking there was a slightly hurting wind.

“I just got myself in a really awkward shot and I didn’t have much option to go for that chip because if I went left, I’d ended up in that bunker and that’s an even more difficult shot. This golf course is all about leaving yourself in the right spot, and it was an error.”

Oosthuizen gave away a final shot on No. 18 after nearly pulling out a huge par save. After sending his tee shot into the right pines, he put his approach into the front greenside bunker.

With a chance to save par after blasting out to four feet, Oosthuizen pulled his par putt left just after Thongchai Jaidee had missed almost the exact same putt right of the hole.

After making bogeys on two of his first seven holes to drop to 1-under, Oosthuizen seemed to find a groove. He birdied No. 8 and then got a big boost on the 13th when he stuck his second shot on the par-5 hole to eight feet and sank the eagle putt.

“I went for that tee shot, to hit a big tee shot,” Oosthuizen said. “It was a standard 7-iron there for me and everything there is on your aiming with your second shot. I hit a good shot to eight feet, and it was a pretty easy putt.”

If only the finish had been just as easy.

“This type of golf course, it can happen,” he said. “You just need to focus and get on with it. I think it’s more disappointing when you’ve got nine holes to go on Sunday and something like that happens. At the moment, I’m still in a good position for the tournament.”