Former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen returned a birdie-saturated 11-under-par 62 on Friday to surge into a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Africa Open.
It was a welcome return to top form by the 2010 Open winner, who has not finished first in a European Tour event since lifting the Africa Open trophy after a nail-biting play-off 12 months ago.
Oosthuizen, a 29-year-old native of Western Cape town Mossel Bay, admitted before the first tournament on this year’s Road to Dubai teed off that he might be distracted, as his wife is expecting their second child.
However, there was no holding him back as he atoned for a modest opening-69 with a round that included one eagle and nine birdies, and was just one stroke outside the course record set by compatriot Richard Sterne.
South Africans Tjaart van der Walt (second-round 64), former Major winner Retief Goosen (68), first-round leader Thomas Aiken (69) and Jaco Ahlers (68) share second place on 133 at the par-73, 6,190m East London Golf Club.
Swede Magnus Carlsson (65) is alone on 134, one stroke ahead of Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood (66) and Danny Willett (68), and Scots Alastair Forsyth (66) and Craig Lee (67).
The fifth and sixth holes on a course beside the Indian Ocean were the most memorable for Oosthuizen, whose seven-stroke British Open triumph ranks among the biggest Major upsets since the turn of the century.
His eagle chip at the fifth lipped the cup and stayed out, but he made amends at the sixth by sinking a 50-foot eagle putt for the highlight of a near flawless golf exhibition.
Van der Walt and Englishman Matthew Baldwin, who is five shots off the pace, each fired a nine-under-par 64 and there were rounds of 65 from Carlsson and South African Jaco van Zyl.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
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