THE 149TH OPEN

July 17, 2021

Louis Oosthuizen

Press Conference

MIKE WOODCOCK: We'd like to welcome our leader after the third round of The Open, Louis Oosthuizen. A 1-under par 69 today gives you a one-shot lead going into the final round.

How do you feel about that, and how crucial was the birdie on 16 for you in your round today?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, I mean, there's lots of golf left, but it was so great with all the fans there. It felt like it was a Sunday afternoon really when I made the putt and I was taking the lead.

Yeah, you know, I had a few loose swings before that on my iron shots and sort of needed that little boost and made a really good swing on 16 and a few good ones coming in.

Yeah, happy with the lead, and need to play some good golf tomorrow.

Q. If looked for a spell as though there could be two or three players burst away around the turn, but it looks as if there are more players sort of being allowed into this event. Do you feel maybe it was a missed opportunity from that respect from you and Collin and Jordan?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, look, I was 13 at a stage. Probably a good back nine could have gone to 14 or 15. There was a few very tough pins out there that you can't really go for at all. You always had to make those 20-footers for birdie.

I made a few bad swings there in the middle of the round and put me in some awkward positions and ended up making two bogeys. 4-iron in on 14 and I made a horrible swing, ended up making a par.

I did have a lot of opportunities to go two or three better, but that's what this golf course can do to you.

Q. Having finished second so many times in the two majors leading up to this one, it's not like you've played poorly or blown the lead, but do you take anything from those near misses that you can apply to tomorrow?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Go one better. You know, finishing second isn't great, so I will play my heart out tomorrow and see if I can lift the Claret Jug again.

Q. You did mention yesterday a bit about knowing when to be aggressive and not from those last few majors. Will you sort of have that in mind tomorrow to sort of take your chances even if you have a lead?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: You know, I think coming down probably when you're around there by the 14th -- you know, it all depends also what type of shot you have in. You're not going to do something silly with taking the impossible shot on, but if there is opportunity to be more aggressive when you need to, you've got to do it if you want a win a championship.

You know, I'll be watching the leaderboard out there tomorrow afternoon and see how it goes. Also, you know, having a lead with two, three holes around this golf course, if you hit a poor tee shot, you're in trouble.

A lead is not like you can just hang tight and just hit a few shots coming in. You need to still play proper golf and place the ball really well to avoid bogeys.

Q. At Torrey afterwards Jon talked about fate and good things happening to good people. Are you a believer of that sort of thing? Do the golf gods owe you something tomorrow?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No. No, no. It's just golf.

Q. You mentioned one or two bad swings which you obviously came back from. From that, what's your mental process through tonight and into the morning in terms of dwelling or not on those, and what's your physical process, the way you treat tonight with the adrenaline, the excitement building up into the final day?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: You know, I'm going to try and stay awake as long as I can tonight because I know the tee time is probably going to be around 3:00, 3:30 again tomorrow.

No, I'll do the same thing. Not really change anything that I do. I think all of us are just human to think of lifting the trophy, and that's going to be in your mind. But I think you just need to know it and how to handle it.

Once we get on the golf course, it's all golf.

You need to believe that you can lift the trophy, as well, and if you think about it beforehand that you might win this championship, I think that's great, and you have to believe you can do it.

Yeah, I'll get some physio tonight and probably relax and tomorrow do the same routine and see if I can play a bit better golf than today.

Q. Where do you keep your Claret Jug, and what are some of the favourite things you've done with it over the years?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: You mean my replica?

Q. Yes.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I've got it on the farm in Ocala. I've got really done anything with that one. When I won in 2010 I took the original back to South Africa to the farm there and to show all the family and friends, and I was very boring with it, I think. I didn't do anything crazy to it.

We did drink some drinks out of it on my oldest's first birthday back in South Africa in 2010.

Q. Somewhere out there there's got to be some people sleeping on a lead. Maybe it's their club championship or maybe it's the city amateur or maybe it's the member-guest or something. To those people that are facing something like that, what advice do you have as a pro to them who are in a situation not too far different from you? Not of course on the same scale, but to them just as important and just as pressure filled?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Yeah, just keep -- I think if you're someone that really thinks about it all the time, you've got to get your mind off it, do something to keep you busy, do something else.

I don't know. I don't really change my routine whether I've got a two-shot lead or I'm trailing by eight. You know, the only thing that differs is the tee time. I might be up way earlier than tomorrow.

No, I would say just try and keep yourself busy and don't let your head wander, your mind wander too much.

Q. You seem to have a remarkably relaxed demeanor in all the years I've been watching you. When was the last time you got really worked up about something, and what was it?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I was worked up about 45 minutes ago when I hit that 5-iron on 15. I just kept really calm because it was a shot that sort of -- I should have backed off probably, take the 6-iron. But I thought -- it was the wrong club. It was the wrong choice I made, and I hate making wrong decisions. I don't mind hitting bad shots, but wrong decisions is something that I had control over.

I was a bit upset there, but got myself quickly together and made a great up-and-down.

Q. Anything off the course?

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: I don't know. I can't remember the last time.

Q. You don't get worked up at traffic lights and people --

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: Everyone gets worked up on stuff like that. I mean, or little things --

Q. Some of us get more worked up than you by the sounds of it.

LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN: No, I mean, just chill.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Louis, thank you for joining us. Best of luck tomorrow.