British Open 2010 - Highlights, Results, Winner Determined

The 2010 British Open was the 150^th annual golf tournament. It took place at the St. Andrews Golf Course in Scotland and the event was one to remember. Even for the person who isn't an avid golf fan, this year's British Open was one of the most memorable, as an underdog made it up through the ranks and received the championship.

The three big names in golf that many follow - Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, and Tiger Woods didn't win this year, although Lee Westwood was the most successful of the three. The Swedish golfer came in second, 9 strokes under par - which wasn't enough to beat out Louis Oosthuizen who won with 16 strokes under par.

Tiger Woods golfed at 3 under par, tying for 23^rd place. Many people are happy that he made it through this particular tournament without having to deal with some remnants of his scandal.

Phil Mickelson was even with par - not a very good game for the golfer who has won many tournaments over his career. This was good enough to land him at tied for 48^th place.

Lee Oosthuizen, 27, lives in a home next to his parents in South Africa and also has digs in Manchester as well. He's South African, and has twice won the PGA Championship in his home country. When asked about the tournament, he's quoted as saying "My biggest goal this week was to keep calm. It became very difficult after the 12th hole on the back nine with an eight shot lead, but I was glad of those eight shots at the 17th. I cramped up a bit. But that was unbelievable."

As Oosthiuizen also noted, it's special to win an Open - and extremely special to win at St. Andrews. This is a great start to his international career, and now that he's had this remarkable win people are going to keep an eye on him. He's had phenomenal success in his own country as mentioned before. This isn't a pure amateur we are talking about here!

St. Andrews is nearly 600 years old, and is the oldest known and most highly revered golf course in the world. The first Open was played there in 1860, and Tiger Woods currently holds the record score on the course at 19 under par - still three strokes under Lee's 16 under par.

Since the young South African's win was historical, he received a replica of the first award given in 1860 - quite a unique and honorable distinction for this up-and-coming champion.

Source:

OpenGulf.com

St. Andrews History