After coming so close to winning the Masters Tournament, Louis Oosthuizen crosses the globe from America to Asia for this week’s Maybank Malaysian Open.
The 2010 Open Champion lost in a play-off to Bubba Watson at Augusta National, narrowly missing out on a second Major Championship and also the chance to receive the Green Jacket from his close friend Charl Schwartzel.
Last year Schwartzel, who is also in the field this week, took the Green Jacket to Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club following his Augusta heroics, and finished tied 11th.
It could so easily have been a carbon copy scenario for Oosthuizen, who led the Masters Tournament for much of the final round on Sunday following a spectacular albatross on the second hole.
Instead, he heads to Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club still chasing a fifth European Tour victory, as he joins Simon Dyson, Martin Kaymer, Alvaro Quiros and Schwartzel in making the long-haul trip from the United States for the 51st edition of the tournament, which has been co-sanctioned by The European Tour and Asian Tour since 1999.
This week marks 40 years since the first official European Tour event was played in April 1972, but it is one of the Tour’s youngest stars, Matteo Manassero, who will be defending the Maybank Malaysian Open title.
The Italian was two days shy of his 18th birthday when he held off the challenge of Grégory Bourdy and Rory McIlroy 12 months ago.
It was his second European Tour win as a 17 year old, following his maiden triumph in the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar in October 2010, when he became the youngest winner in European Tour history.
Although he just missed out on a place in last week’s Masters Tournament, Manassero has been in good form so far in 2012, with three top ten finishes including runner up in the Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol.
There are five Major Champions in the field to contest the US2.5million prize fund, with Michael Campbell and Todd Hamilton joining Kaymer, Oosthuizen and Schwartzel.
