Centurion - Louis Oosthuizen will be back in action this week as he leads six South Africans at the Honda Classic at the Champions Course in Florida, starting on Thursday.
Oosthuizen played his first event of 2022 two weeks ago at the Phoenix Open and finished in a tidy tie for 14th, as the 39-year-old ended just five shots behind American winner Scottie Scheffler.
As the top-ranked SA player in the field at 13th in the world rankings, Oosthuizen has not won anywhere in over three years. His last victory came at the SA Open in December 2018, but his results in that period have still been impressively consistent with six runner-up finishes and three thirds.
In fact, Oosthuizen produced an incredible set of results in the majors last year as he finished runner-up at the PGA Championship and the US Open, while ending third at The Open.
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Oosthuizen, also has a monkey on his back in that he has never won a US PGA Tour event on US soil. His only PGA Tour victory to date, came with his victory in the 2010 Open Championship which is a co-sanctioned European and US tour event.
With his strong showing at the Phoenix Open, Oosthuizen is ranked 27th in strokes gained tee to green, and among players in the field at the Honda Classic he is the sixth best. As Oosthuizen’s ball-striking is always a strength, it means he will be well-suited to the difficult par-70 layout.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout is the SA number two at 58 in the world rankings, and will already be playing his sixth event of the year on the PGA Tour. His best finish of the season so far came at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am three weeks ago, but missed the cut by five at the Genesis Invitational last week. However, that was his first missed cut this season and he will be looking to add to his two top-20 finishes.
Showing some skin for the shot.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 22, 2022
Plenty of water @TheHondaClassic makes for wet and wild situations. pic.twitter.com/h6bz5cTHmL
Dylan Frittelli, meanwhile, has also played five events already on the PGA Tour in 2022. It’s been more of a struggle with three missed cuts, interspersed by a tie for 24th (Pebble Beach Pro-Am) and a share of 26th (Genesis Invitational). As a former world number 44, Frittelli will be aiming to improve his current world ranking of 120.
Garrick Higgo will be another SA player to watch. The left-handed 22-year-old has already won in the US, in just his second event on the PGA Tour. In 2022, Higgo his missed one cut on the PGA Tour and has two top-25 finishes to his name. He is also coming off his best finish of the season to date, after ending in a tie for 21st at the Phoenix Open last week.
Dawie van der Walt and 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel complete the SA players in the field. The 37-year-old Schwartzel has little form to speak of with two missed cuts in his last two events, and a best finish of 39th this season.
For Van der Walt, four missed cuts in four events will not inspire much confidence either, as he looks to turn around his season in a hurry.