U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2021

June 20, 2021

Louis Oosthuizen

Torrey Pines Golf Course

Flash Interview

THE MODERATOR: Louis, a lot of good to take from this week. You played some great golf. Summarize it for us.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I played good. Just fell a little short again. It was Jon played a great round of golf, 4-under today on that golf course is a really good score. I could see early on what was happening with the leaderboard at the end and knew that I need to push at the end to do something.

Errant tee shot on 17 just cost me, but all in all, I thought that I fought really well to stay in it and just fell short again.

Q. Louis, is there a point where you're saying I don't want to do anything to make a mistake and then realized, at the point where you talked about, where Rahm did what he did, that you had to change gears and do something different?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I always thought 17 and 18 was going to be the two scoring holes on that back nine. I did well to make a par on 13, and then another good par on 14. So just really getting through those stretch of holes. 17 was the key hole, drive that in the fairway, and I've got sand wedge into that pin, which would probably give me hopefully inside a ten-foot putt for birdie. Obviously, 18, you can lay up there and go for it, whatever decision you want to do. But I pulled it by five yards, that tee shot, and it was just -- as I saw the line it was on, I knew it wasn't going to bounce to the right. It was quite firm bouncing to the left there.

Q. I know that Fred Albers on XM was talking about how you played great at the PGA, you played great here. But at what point does it start weighing on you that you didn't win the championship?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Do you mean today?

Q. Just in general.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Right now I didn't win it. I'm second again. No, look, it's frustrating. It's disappointing. I'm playing good golf, but it's not -- winning a major championship is not just going to happen. You need to go out and play good golf. I played good today, but I didn't play good enough.

I definitely left a few birdies out -- not birdies, but a few putts or shots out there. I'm not going to -- I took the tee shot on at 17, and I knew it was a crucial hole for me to take it on and give myself a birdie opportunity. I didn't pull it off, but standing on that tee again, I'll probably do the same thing, taking a driver and taking the shot on.

I feel like I had my shots, I went for it, and that's what you have to do to win majors. Sometimes it goes your way, and other times it doesn't.