Louis Oosthuizen leads the way at the 2021 Open Championship at 12 under par, but the tournament is still wide open. There are 17 players who are within seven shots of the lead so anything can happen. We should wait until tomorrow afternoon to see who will be named Champion Golfer of the Year, but here is what most (un)likely will happen in my opinion:
Louis Oosthuizen will post another solid round in the red numbers, but will finish second again.
Louis Oosthuizen has won the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrew, but he is more popular with the fact that has finished as a runner-up in all four majors. Oosthuizen (38)has six! runner-up finishes from 50 major appearances. His most recent disappointment in a major was a month ago at the U.S Open where Oosthuizen finished second. At Torrey Pines the South African started the final round in share of the lead and played the course at level par for the day. This was 2.17 strokes better than the field average, but still it was not good enough to beat Jon Rahm who won by one after a final round 67.
Someone outside the first page of the leaderboard will post a very low score and will put himself in the mix
Paul Casey at The 149th Open - Day Three © Getty Images
The weather forecast promises light winds and very little chance for rain, but you never know. This is links golf, the weather can change totally in a few minutes. There are several great players like Paul Casey, Webb Simpson and Dustin Johnson who will start their final round about two hours before the final group. If they post a low round tomorrow and the wind gets stronger in the afternoon we can have a surprising winner at the 149th Open Championship. In 1999 Paul Lawries overcame a ten-shot deficit to win the same tournament, so it happened before, why not happen tomorrow again?
The winner is decided after a playoff with three or more players
There are many players within striking distance of the lead so it won't be a surprise if some extra holes are needed to determine the winner. The last playoff at The Open was in 2015 when Louis Oosthuizen again was one of the main actors on the scene. The title that year went to Zach Johnson who played the four extra holes a shot better than Oosthuizen and three better than Marc Leishman. If the early starters impress with some low rounds and the weather changes drastically in the afternoon then we can end up sitting on the couch watching golf all day long.
