Frequent Major Factor Louis Oosthuizen Figuring Out Southern Hills

The South African, second in last year's PGA Championship, knows all about breaking down new venues — as Southern Hills is for him.

Author:
Alex Miceli
Publish date:
May 18, 2022

Louis Oosthuizen takes notes at Southern Hills in advance of the 2022 PGA Championship. — Louis Oosthuizen has two runner-ups at the PGA Championship. Can he write a better ending this week?
Michael Madrid/USA Today

Louis Oosthuizen has played all over the world, but when he tees it up off the first tee on Thursday at 1:47 local time with Ian Poulter and Daniel Berger, it will be his first official trip around a Perry Maxwell design in his career.

With nine top 3s in major championships, including runner-up finishes last year at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, Oosthuizen is familiar with breaking down venues and how to play a major championship.

After two practice rounds totaling 18 holes — nine holes on Monday and nine on Tuesday — Oosthuizen believes Southern Hills playing at 7,556 yards is a second-shot course and at a par 70, plays very long.

“I’ve hit two 7-woods into par 4s already and two woods into par 3s,” Oosthuizen said. “It’s definitely getting more and more difficult with the length they add every year.”

Even with the added length, Oosthuizen believes that you can attack the golf course primarily from the fairway and many holes will have approach shots with short irons, providing birdie opportunities given greens in such good shape.

At the same time, Oosthuizen notes, the greens are slower than usual, under 12 on the Stimpmeter and the areas around the greens will require the use of a wedge versus a putter and if you miss on the wrong side, you will pay the price.

“I’m using a few 4-woods around the greens, just chipping, a few bumping it into the hill and scooting it up,” Oosthuizen said of the different ways he will approach chipping around the greens. “As long as you miss it on the low side this week, I think you can be a little more aggressive when you’re chipping, but the grass is not easy to chip from. You can always say this grass can make you look stupid very quickly.”

Oosthuizen hasn’t played since a second round WD at the Masters with a stiff neck but with weeks of taking it easy, the 39-year-old professes he is ready to go, yet he is still figuring things out on Wednesday that included the speed of the greens and how the scoring will be.

In the "don’t judge a book by its cover" category, the greens at Southern Hills look quicker than they are and in his limited time around them Oosthuizen believes that will be a factor for most players.

With the forecasts for wind over 20 mph and gusts over 30 mph, Oosthuizen believes greens will not speed up, but hopefully will get a little firmer.

Oosthuizen is also wondering about scoring, as in his first 18 holes he made only one birdie and is not sure how the scoring will be over four days.

“I'm ready, I feel good,” Oosthuizen said. “I like taking time off before a major and just sharpening up a few things in my game. So, feel probably pretty similar to what I felt last year going into a major so just now getting down to playing some decent golf.”

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