The man with the sweetest, most automatic golf swing in the world is ironically the biggest question mark among all 24 competitors in the Presidents Cup. Louis Oosthuizen spent the last two and a half months on the shelf, nursing neck and back injuries while skipping the year’s last two majors. Oosthuizen insisted he would be back for the Presidents Cup, but he cut it close, getting in just one week of tournament reps before coming to Columbus. Oosthuizen played at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last week, getting through it without injury incident but missing the cut.
2013 Presidents cup rosters: Louis Oosthuizen returns from injury to join International team
Louis Oosthuizen is just getting back from injuries that kept him away from the game for more that two months, making him the wild card for the International team an provided a chance to possibly redeem a season from hell.
Player previews for both 12-man teams
As Presidents Cup week continues, we'll roll individual previews for all 24 players competing in Columbus. Do the Internationals have the depth to make this competitive again? Oosthuizen is therefore the X-factor this week. When he’s in form, he has the best swing in the world and is almost impossible to beat. But it’s unlikely we’ll see anything approaching that kind of play from the well-rested Oosthuizen. He started this year as the trendy pick to win the Masters, or another major, but flamed out in the early months of the season with inconsistent play and then withdrew because of the injuries at both the U.S. Open and British Open. The PGA was never even attempted. He was last seen missing the cut at the John Deere in early July, so captain Nick Price has to be on edge when trying to calculate what he can get from him. The worst case scenario is that injuries force him to back out and leave Price down a man.
Price could normally count on Oosty to be one of the keystones of the International side, but now he has to just hope the cool South African puts together some birdie holes to pick up whoever he’s paired with in the two-man games. It’s likely Oosthuizen gets a rest when there’s a session that doesn’t require the full 12-man team. Despite his success as one of the top players in the world, this is actually his Presidents Cup debut. Unfortunately, it’s not quite the circumstances he’d hoped for but he has the opportunity to be an International wild card.
World Ranking: 29
Qualified: Automatic spot No. 5 of 10
Presidents Cup Match Play Record: This is his debut.
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