Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Well done Oosthuizen. A very impressive win & good for him if he does choose to stay on the European tour. We are begining to see that The tour is now producing the best players in the world.
I'm glad it wasn't yet another American who said how great it was to win the "British" open & then never set foot on these shores again for 12 months.
The only recent US winners I can remember playing occasionally in this country whilst champion are Tom Lehman, John Daly & Ben Curtis & I was always pleased to see them at least allowing the people of these shores to see their champion golfer.

I don't know how you can say Westwood and Casey WILL win a major. They might win one. I am sure 20 years ago you would have said Montgomerie will win one, or 10 years ago Garcia will win one. Nothing is guaranteed in sport or life for that matter.

I may be a Brit, but I just cannot get excited about Casey our Westwood. When I was a kid I was rooting for Sandy, Woosie, Nick and Seve... I used to be praying for them as they walked down the 72nd hole hoping they would win... But Casey and Westwood have had their time.. Casey is talented but has a terrible record in majors. Ditto Westwood up until 2008. It is great to see Westwood finding this remarkable vein of consistency now, but he still seems to be missing the magic ingredient to close the deal.

Maybe they will win a major. OK, I hope they do. But there is a new generation now. That is why McIlroy is the real deal. He has the chance to be the best player of his generation - something that Casey and Westwood will never be. He will be playing against Iskiwawa, Schwarzel, Ricky Fowler and others for the next decade. Which of them will take over Tiger's crown?? That'll be worth watching.

The other guy I would love to see win a major is Justin Rose. It would be such a fairy tale finish after all he has been through since 1998 at Birkdale.

Even though as a spectacle it wasnt up there with the most dramatic of Opens, Oosthuizen performance was still top class, and yes he may have had the luck of the draw on Friday, but he still had to play the shots. I agree with MickeyHoolio, I cant get excited about Westwood or Casey, even though I was rooting for them on Sunday, you just dont get the impression that they have the necessary spark to get them over the line. Casey's missed birdie putt on the first summed it up for me, he missed severall like that on the back nine on Saturday too. I hope I'm wrong about Casey & Woods, excellent golfers, but missing the magic ingrediant?

Well, I for one would be absolutely delighted if and when Lee Westwood wins a major. I've followed his career from the start and he is my favourite golfer of the last few years. His recent form and consistency is incredible and I believe he deserves to win a big one. I like Casey too, but I don't think he quite has that killer instinct to win majors, but hope I'm wrong. As for McIlroy, what a talent. Definitely the most likely to challenge for many more majors in the next few years (if Tiger lets him).

Just shows the unpredictability of golf.The most you could safely predict is that most of the top 50 finishers in a major will come from, say, the top 100 ranked players in the world.Skill training and practice gets rewarded to a point in that it should guarantee you a reasonable placing but the tiny margins for error, vaguaries of the weather and going mentally AWOL for 9 holes mean that predicting a winner is nigh on impossible. Only the purest sports allow for such predictability ...e.g. where raw speed or strength are at stake...like predicitng the winner of the 100 metres or Olympic weightlifting champions.

Congrats to Louis. Still can't help thinking he had a bit too much luck with the weather but he didn't buckle an inch really on Sunday if you compare his performance to say Ricky Barnes or Dustin Johnson in the last two US Opens where they folded all too easily.

@ #1 Agree that's it is nice when our 'merrican friends do make more of an effort but last year's efforts of some (e.g. Anthony Kim, Phil, Ben Curtis etc.) to play two tours and join the Race to Dubai just didn't work for them that well. And JD does come over more than most but that's not straightforward either. He played on the European Tour when the PGA banned him for 6 months but where was he when that ban ran out?

I guess the biggest threat to the European Tour over the next decade or more is not whether the 'merricans come play here or how much we lose players to the PGA, but the rise of the Asian tour with their stars, courses and money likely to create a serious rival.

As always the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ coverage of the golf was excellent. However, as a South African I was disappointed that none of the commentators managed to pronounce his name properly. It is perhaps understandable that on day one none of them had heard of him but he was the leader for three days and yet NONE of them managed to pronounce his name correctly even once! All they had to do was to ask him or any one of many South Africans there how to pronounce it. The pronunciation is not beyond the wit of a nation that can get "Chumley"out of Chalmondeley and "Sinjin" out of St John. It just needs a bit of application and practice, and perhaps a bit of respect. The worst was the Australian Grady, but that is perhaps understandable, as they pronounce maroon as "marone".

Now, the OO is pronounced like mOOr and HUIZEN like brAZEN - it's not difficult. Just show the young man a bit of respect and do your homework!
Congratulations to Louis - he played and won like a gentleman.

One or two observations on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ coverage from Loch Lomond and St. Andrews:-
Stephen Gallacher finished top Scot in both events - in the final round at Loch Lomond we saw him playing about 3 or 4 shots(NOT including his birdie at the last)although he was on the first page of the leader board all day. St. Andrews was even worse - we saw him holing out at the last.
I did not see all of the coverage of the first 2 rounds at St. Andrews but on the second round when the groups containing Woods and McIlroy were out we saw little else but them - the leader boards shown were usually the first 2 pages - so we knew little of what many players were doing
The alphabetical list at the bottom should be shown much more frequently and at a SLOWER speed - several times when I focussed on one player of the 3 I completely missec the other 2

Louis got the luck of the draw with the wind on Friday but his performance on the weekend was pure self belief. I truly hope Westwoods time will come as he undoubtedly deservers to win one of golfs biggest prizes. I, however, do not feel the same about Casey. To me Casey comes across as smug and does not have the likability factor – his chance was gone as soon as he missed the birdie putt on 1.

It would be good if McIlroy won a major in the next two years to get the ball rolling and become a multiple major champion. I cannot imagine how hard it is to win a major as Garcia has shown. It clearly eats away at Monty every time he wakes up in the morning.

Roll on the PGA – an event that lacks character, identity and the magic of the other majors. Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Mark Brooks anyone??

Well Done Louis! You played the game at St Andrews in a magnificent way........especially your drive up the 18th. You really deserved to win but I was quite disappointed because at the end of the game, my kids aged 8 and 10 who are keen young golfers waited for 20 minutes outside the corporate hospitality rooms waiting for you to come out. When you came out, you walked straight through, ignoring about 30 kids. With all due respect, since this was your first Major win, you shouldnt let the fame get to you within 15 minutes. They were only kids who wanted to meet an "idol".

Great performance from Louis. Class golf, never really looked like wavering, and it was a tough week, as the other scores bear out. There is no arguing with a 7 shot margin.

I agree that there is no inevitability about Lee or Casey or anyone else winning a major. Lee says he has to improve, which at least shows no complacency and ongoing desire. Casey has time and seems to have smartened up a bit, just had a bad couple of putting days.

As for the PGA having no identity, I think it is a great tournament that combines a great field with playable, quality venues. There may have been some surprise winners, but that neither takes away from the value of a win or the championship itself. Recent PGA champions include Woods 4 times, Harrington, Mickelson, Singh - and Yang beat Woods down the stretch last year - would you devalue the tournament because of that. It happens sometimes, for the reasons in Ian's blog - there are a lot of good players and one of those sometimes hits an irresistable hot streak.

Granted laertes: there has been some great champions in the PGA and some good finishes.

It is still undoubtedly the poorest of all the majors and it does lack identity. The Open is the Open: the US open is the USAs national tournament with high rough and par a test and The Masters has Augusta. Even The Players has sawgrass!

The PGA has tried to look like a US open in the past and really it has the feel of a normal tour event, all be it a big one!

If you asked any Pro the PGA would be fourth on there to do list! Even Monty says it lacks magic in his autobiography and he would have swam to the US if it meant lifting the trophy!

If you asked Tom Watson if he could win one more golf tournament I don’t think it would be the PGA and complete a carrier Grand Slam – it would be the open at St. Andrews!

Enough talk of the PGA, that is for next monty. Westy, Rory and Casey all put in fine performances, and Rory's post final round interview was excellent, he admitted that he had not dealt with the conditionson Friday as he might of and that it was a real opportunity missed - there was no talk of 'if I just kleep knocking onthe door' that we hear all the time from Westwood. It really concerns me that he is not trying to make it happen, not playing THAT shot fromt he pine needles at Augusta.

I feel that Rory is the most likely to win a major next time around, because he is willing to make it happen, willing to go for a 63 at the Old Course and I bet he lies awake thinking about the short putt on 17 that would potentially have given him the first ever 62 in a major. I don't get that impression from Westwood, it is as if being a good player is enough. Last week Louis had the X Factor and he didn't half play well. What a victory and a fabulous champion. Good luck to him.

Westwood is an extremely wealthy man, seems like a great bloke and a fabulous player. But I really feel he needs make something happen. Same with Casey for what it's worth, but to be fair he stuck it in the gorse on 12 whenm he was going for it, and in response to a first class drive from Louis.

Beeb coverage: they didn't show enough of the road hole tee shot and they showed a fair bit too much of Ian Poulter generally; a man not contending and (although I quite like him) not of any special interest.

golfer901: I think you're being a bit harsh accusing Louis of letting the win 'go to his head' already. He had just won his first major, and would have been mobbed by people the entire time you were waiting. I realise you wanted him to meet your kids, but so did thousands of others. He seems like quite a down-to-earth guy but would hardly have been thinking straight at this point. Why not judge him on his future conduct rather than just rushing to conclusions because he didn't make time for your children shortly after the biggest moment in his life.