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Louis Oosthuizen….claims a 7 shot victory at the 139th Open Championship

Louis Oosthuizen strolled to a seven-shot victory at the Open Championship to claim his first major title. The 27-year-old South African led by four shots heading into the final round and a 71 proved more than sufficient as none of his rivals mounted any sort of a challenge. England\\\'s Lee Westwood finished second after a closing 70, while Oosthuizen\\\'s closest pursuer overnight, Paul Casey, struggled round in 75 to finish joint third, alongside Henrik Stenson and Rory McIlroy.

Oosthuizen, 23 over par for his previous three Open appearances before this week, opened with seven straight pars and after dropping a shot on the eighth, responded brilliantly with an eagle two on the ninth, rolling in a putt from 40 feet.

That just about settled the destination of the 138th Championship, despite Casey bravely holing from eight feet for birdie to keep in touch at 12 under, still four shots back.

But Casey\\\'s faint hopes disappeared completely with a triple bogey on the 12th, after he drove into the same gorse bushes on the left found by Germany\\\'s Martin Kaymer in the group ahead.

Kaymer had escaped with a bogey five, but Casey\\\'s third shot came up short of the green, a clumsy fourth ran through the back and three putts later he had made a triple-bogey seven and his chance was gone.

Oosthuizen immediately rolled in a birdie from 12 feet to improve to 17 under par and the rest of the field was battling for second place. Kaymer fell away with three bogey fives to finish with a 74, while Casey dropped another shot at 15.

Stenson was solid but unspectacular, making 17 pars and a solitary birdie at the seventh.

McIlroy finished strongly with three back-nine birdies on his way to a 68, but Westwood\\\'s birdie at the last ensured him of his second runner-up finish in three majors this season.

Westwood - whose time must surely come soon - has now finished in the top three in four of the last five major championships. Meanwhile, Oosthuizen was serenely making his way towards the Claret Jug.

He made solid pars through the difficult stretch from 13 to 16, and was able to take a safe and sensible bogey at the treacherous 17th, before a par up the last made him South Africa\\\'s fourth Open champion on Nelson Mandela Day. Source – Skysports.com

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