On the 30-hour jaunt from Augusta to Kuala Lumpur, Masters runner-up Louis Oosthuizen had a lot of time to analyze what he could have changed to win the green jacket.
‘Probably every second on the flight I thought about it. I don’t think there is much I would have done differently. I gave it my all and don’t think I gave anything away,’ Oosthuizen said at the Malaysian Open on Wednesday. ‘I played the best I could coming down the stretch and was outplayed.’
Despite already having a major on his resume, Oosthuizen said that does not reduce the sting of coming so close at the Masters.
‘It’s a good and bad thing: being that close to the green jacket is tough to get over immediately but I think time will heal it and it gives me a bit more confidence to get myself one,’ he said. ‘I suppose the day I eventually put one on is the day I will get over it fully.’
Well aware of the spectacle in making the first-ever albatross at the par-5 second hole during the final round, Oosthuizen conceded Watson had an equally awe-inspiring shot.
‘I think any tournament that you win, you always hit one amazing shot and that was his shot. It started 40 yards left of the pin and it was an amazing shot, but if he was right-handed it would have been impossible – you had to be left-handed to even try that shot,’ he said.
Despite the disappointment of losing the tournament, Oosthuizen moves on this week with confidence – and exhaustion.
‘I think any performance in a major, whether it is winning, losing a playoff or finishing top-3, will give you a lot of confidence going forward,” he said.
