Oosthuizen wins three-way playoff at Africa Open

EAST LONDON – Louis Oosthuizen won a three-way playoff at the Africa Open on Sunday to claim his first victory since the British Open in July.

The 28-year-old South African thrilled the home fans by rolling in a 10-foot birdie putt on the first sudden-death hole, the par-four 18th, to defeat Britain’s Chris Wood and Manuel Quiros of Spain at the East London Golf Club.Oosthuizen enjoyed a stroke of luck in the playoff when he pulled his tee shot into the rough on the left but the ball jumped out into the fairway.Earlier he closed with a three-under-par 70 to join Wood (68) and Quiros (69) on 16-under overall.’It’s been one of those weeks when the putter was very cold,’ Oosthuizen told reporters after landing his third European Tour triumph. ‘But my caddie [Zack Rasego] kept me so calm by telling me it would go in eventually.’So I kept on trying, made a long one (for an eagle three) on the 15th and then the one in the playoff which I’ll definitely remember.’Wood set the early pace in the clubhouse before Quiros birdied the last three holes to join him on 276.Oosthuizen, who started out as the joint overnight leader with Austrian Markus Brier, then parred the last three holes to set up the three-way playoff.Brier began in spectacular fashion with three straight birdies but a run of four bogeys in the next six holes meant he eventually had to settle for a 73 and 279.Defending champion Charl Schwartzel (70) finished in a share of fourth place on 277 with fellow South African Jaco Van Zyl (70) and Briton Steven O’Hara (66). – Nampa-Reuters