South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen shot a four under par final round of 68 to win the AIB Irish Amateur Open by a shot at Royal Dublin yesterday.

As the home challenge faltered disappointingly over the final 18 holes, Oosthuizen did enough in the end to finish ahead of England's Paul Bradshaw.

The 19 year old South African was nine behind halfway leader Bradshaw starting the day but shot a 71 to Bradshaw's 75 in the morning before going on the rampage after lunch.

Five birdies in the first nine holes spread-eagled the field and only Bradshaw was able to stay with the youngster from Southern Cape.

Despite a monstrous drive and perfect six-iron to 25 feet, Oosthuizen three putted the difficult 18th to set a clubhouse target of five under par 283.

Portmarnock's Noel Fox began the afternoon two behind the leader but played the front nine in one over and then bogeyed the 13th 14th and doubled bogeyed the 17th on his way to a 76 and fifth place.

Only Bradshaw could catch the South African and when he two putted the par five 14th to get to five under par he was tied for the lead and looking good for his first Open title.

But the putting gods where not on his side yesterday and when birdie attempts of 15 and 18 feet lipped out the next two holes he was facing an uphill task.

A perfect drive at the 17th left him a 50-yard pitch to the green. And although he knocked his pitch to just four feet, he failed to frighten the hole with the putt and was left needing a par to force a play-off.

His decision to opt for safety off the tee cost him dear and although his two-iron found the fairway his three wood approach finished 50 feet away.

After rushing his first putt seven feet past the hole, he missed the return and had to settle for his third runners-up spot in a major amateur event in the last 12 months.

"My putting let me down badly. I putted like an idiot and that was the story of my day," said the Englishman afterwards.

A product of the Ernie Els Foundation, Oosthuizen looked like schoolboy compared to the rest of the field.

"I just try to enjoy myself on the course," he said. "Ernie Els has told us to go out and have fun and that's what I tried to do today. It's a real thrill from me to win here."

Birr's Justin Kehoe finished third on two under thanks to a brace of 70's yesterday, while Finland's Ville Karhu came home fourth on one under par.

Colm Moriarty, David Jones and Robert Forsythe finished tied for sixth on one over par, six shots behind the winner.

AIB Irish Amateur Open, Royal Dublin
FINAL

283 L Oosthuizen (Swellendam) 73 71 71 68
284 P Bradshaw (Gainsborough) 69 66 75 74
286 J Kehoe (Birr) 72 74 70 70
287 V Karhu (Kymen) 70 71 73 73
288 N Fox (Portmarnock) 68 72 72 76
289 C Moriarty (Athlone) 74 71 73 71, D Jones (City of Derry) 69 72 74 74, R Forsythe (Hilton Templepatrick) 67 71 74 77
290 R Caldwell (Sunningdale) 72 71 71 76, E Ramsay (Carnoustie) 70 74 73 73
291 M McDermott (Stackstown) 78 70 75 68, J Foster (Ballyclare) 76 69 73 73, S Manley (Mountain Ash) 71 75 72 73, M Murphy (Waterville) 71 69 78 73
292 D Rawluk (The Island) 76 71 72 73, D Crowe (Royal Dublin) 73 72 73 74, M Collins (Sutton) 71 77 70 74, L Owens (Royal Dublin) 71 74 70 77
294 E O'Sullivan (The Island) 76 72 71 75, A Pierse (Tipperary) 75 71 76 72, S Paul (Tandragee) 74 72 73 75
295 F Illouz (Nortfertanine) 72 73 75 75, P Purdy (Shandon Park) 70 70 79 76, C Doran (Banbridge) 67 74 78 76
296 S Moloney (Castletroy) 72 74 76 74, A Brown (Yallourn) 72 73 78 73
297 W Kelly (Killeen) 73 72 78 74, T Rice (Limerick) 73 70 76 78, R McCarthy (Island) 70 70 79 78
298 R Boal (Scrabo) 73 75 77 73, C Moriarty (Clandeboye) 73 74 78 73, P Spargo (The Victoria) 70 78 78 72
299 G Wardlow (Shandon Park) 75 71 78 75, C Schwartzel (Maccauvlei) 72 74 77 76
300 L Harpin (North Wales) 69 77 76 78
301 G Hastie (Bolton) 75 73 76 77, D Mortimer (Connemara) 74 73 77 77, P Dooley (Cork) 73 74 74 80
302 N Lavin (Royal Dublin) 73 73 79 77, E McCormack (Slieve Russell) 67 78 82 75
303 R Maher (Nenagh) 74 74 78 77
304 A Dowling (Hermitage) 68 78 76 82
305 N McGrane (Royal Dublin) 76 72 78 79
307 C Martin (Nenagh) 73 71 81 82
309 P Erofeueff (Espoo) 72 76 79 82
312 C Housden (Channels) 72 74 80 86

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© Brian Keogh 2002

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