2010 Open Championship winner Louis Oosthuizen goes into the final round of The Open Championship holding the solo-lead for the third consecutive round.
He has held the solo lead after each of the first three rounds (1 stroke/R1, 2 strokes/R2, 1 stroke/R3).
The last player to win a Major wire-to-wire was Brooks Koepka at the 2019 PGA Championship.
Sunday marks exactly 11 years since Oosthuizen’s win at The Open in 2010, his lone PGA Tour title.
Julius Boros was the only player to go 11 years or longer between his first and second Major titles (1952 U.S. Open, 1963 U.S. Open).
Oosthuizen holds the seventh 54-hole lead/co-lead of his PGA Tour career, fourth in a Major and third at The Open (1-for-7 to date).
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One behind, 2020 PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa is making his tournament debut at The Open, and no player has ever won two different Majors in his first attempt.
Making his fourth appearance, Cameron Smith shot a 68 to move to T9. Best finish at The Open was T20 in 2019. He has six top-10s including a win on the PGA Tour this season.
The last wire-to-wire winner at The Open Championship was Rory McIlroy in 2014.
The longest time between first and second wins at The Open was 10 years (Ernie Els, 2002 to 2012)
The longest time between wins at The Open was 11 years (Henry Cotton, 1937 to 1948; tournament not played 1940-45).
The last player to go 11 years or longer between first and second wins on the PGA Tour was Lee Westwood (12 years, 2 months, 8 days from 1998 Zurich Classic of New Orleans to 2010 FedEx St. Jude Classic).
Louis Oosthuizen finished runner-up at each of the last two Majors (T2/PGA Championship, 2nd/U.S. Open) and has six runner-up finishes in 50 Majors in his career (T9 all-time).
He has six top-10s in 16 starts during the 2020-21 season, including three runner-up results (P2/Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Charl Schwartzel, T2/PGA Championship, 2nd/U.S. Open).
Morikawa (2nd/-11), has a career-best 54-hole position in a Major championship (2nd). He entered the final round of the 2020 PGA Championship T4 before going on to win.
This is the fourth time he is playing in the final pairing in the final round on Tour this season.
Morikawa is making eighth career Major championship appearance; no player has ever won two Majors in his first eight attempts.
Six players have won The Open in tournament debut since 1900: Jock Hutchison (1921), Denny Shute (1933), Ben Hogan (1953), Tony Lema (1964), Tom Watson (1975), Ben Curtis (2003).
Morikawa is a four-time Tour winner (2019 Barracuda Championship, 2020 Workday Charity Open, 2020 PGA Championship, 2021 World Golf Championships-Workday Championship).
Three-time Major champion and 2017 Open Championship winner Jordan Spieth played the final two holes in 2-over and entered the final round trailing by three strokes (3rd/-9).
Defending champion Shane Lowry stands T12 after a third-round 69. The last player to successfully defend his title at The Open was Padraig Harrington, 2008.
Text courtesy: PGA Tour
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