Louis Oosthuizen’s Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A South African Showdown

Jason Sobel

Updated:

Sep 23, 2021, 02:46 PM EDT

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Credit:

Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports. Pictured: Louis Oosthuizen

The Action Network spoke with several of today’s top professional golfers to find out their favorite personal golf betting stories.

Louis Oosthuizen

When: June, 2011
Where: Congressional CC

It’s not often that two childhood buddies each become major champions, but that’s the case for Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 Open Championship, and Charl Schwartzel, who won the 2011 Masters. About two months after Schwartzel’s win at Augusta National, the two friends were playing a practice round match in advance of the U.S. Open. Unlike most friendly matches, their recurring game features a cruel twist – one which came back to bite Oosthuizen on this occasion.

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“We’ve got this recall-mulligan game that we play. If your opponent hits a good shot, you can make him recall it and take a mulligan.

“On the long par-4 15th, it’s a dogleg down to the left and Charl hit one into the fairway bunker. He had 210 yards into the pin. The only way he could do something is if he hit this 40-yard cut 5-wood, because he couldn’t go straight over the left.

“So, he hit this shot to 25 feet, an unbelievable shot. I immediately go, ‘Recall!’ I hadn’t used my recall yet.

“He was swearing and shouting. He said, ‘You can’t do that!’ I said, ‘Hey, that’s the game.’

“Well, he hit the next one to 10 feet.

“He placed it exactly where he wanted to and it stopped 10 feet away. That screwed me completely. He ended up making birdie and he beat me that day.

“We’ve always had good matches between us.”

Golf Gambling Stories from Legends of the Game

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About the Author

Jason is a Senior Golf Writer for The Action Network. He has covered golf full-time since 2004, previously for ESPN and Golf Channel, winning more than a dozen accolades from the Golf Writers Association of America and four Sports Emmys.

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