The weather helped Louis to win The Open

The British Open has come and gone and Louis Oosthuizen is the champion golfer of the year. 

With his victory, he becomes the third member of the foursome that will be invited to grace the fairways of Port Royal when the PGA Grand Slam comes to town later this year. 

While many of us may not have heard of Louis prior to Day 2 of the Open, and I am one of them, it is true enough that we should have. 

After all, Louis began the Open at 54th in the world rankings, which is itself quite impressive, presumably built by play outside of the U.S. 

Wherever he compiled his ranking, at 54th in the world, Louis was no slouch and his victory should not be viewed as a surprise.

To be sure, Louis got lucky with the draw and, on Day 2, he took advantage of his good fortune by shooting a fine 67 in the morning. 

That afternoon, when the breeze kicked up just a wee bit, Rory McIlroy knocked up a round of 80, 13 shots higher than Louis. 

After four days play, Rory had managed a tie for third place, nine shots adrift of Louis. 

The mathematicians reading this may notice that the final differential between Louis and Rory was somewhat less than their differential on Day 2.

The weather on the afternoon of Day 2 was, to use a popular British weather term, horrid but that is just the way Mother Nature wanted it. 

There are many special aspects to the Open Championship and weather is just one of them.  There is nothing that anybody can do about the weather and so it is just a case of grinning and bearing it, for Mother Nature always rules. 

At the Open, the weather will be whatever the weather will be, and the players just have to get on with it.

By all accounts, Louis will be a great Open champion. 

He is humble, has a great sense of humour and he got my vote when he made reference to the difficulties of using an umbrella in the wind. 

“In the wind, you have to focus on where you point your umbrella or you will end up without it”.  It is a situation all amateurs will understand.

The fourth and final member of the PGA Grand Slam will be decided around the middle of August when the PGA Championship is played at Whistling Straits. 

Given the nature of the course, it is quite possible that another non-American will win, meaning that Phil Michelson would be the only American to receive an invitation to the 2010 PGA Grand Slam. 

Even so, I’m willing to bet a couple of shillings that Phil won’t take up the invitation to come to Bermuda to play in the Grand Slam. 

If that happens, the PGA would invite a previous major winner, maybe Padraig Harrington, meaning maybe no Americans at this year’s Grand Slam.