PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- A first victory in the United States will have to wait for Louis Oosthuizen.
The 2010 Open champion from South Africa was primed to win for the first time in America on Sunday when he entered the final round of the Players Championship just a shot behind leaders J.B. Holmes and Kyle Stanley.
But while Oosthuizen overtook the 54-hole leaders, he could not stay with playing partner Si Woo Kim, whose 3-under-par 69 was good for a 3-shot victory in the PGA Tour's flagship event at TPC Sawgrass.
"I would have liked to have pushed a little bit more at the end there,'' said Oosthuizen, 36, an eight-time winner on the European Tour. "But being four behind with four holes to go is probably not ideal. I had a good week, I played nicely, wasn't spot on today, but happy with second.''
Oosthuizen was ultimately undone by bogeys at the 13th and 14th holes after he had eagled the par-5 11th to make up for a poor front nine. But he could never get closer, as the 21-year-old South Korean cruised to his second PGA Tour title.
Meanwhile, Oosthuizen, graced with one of the game's purest swings, will continue to persevere.
The winner of a major and twice a playoff loser in a major (2012 Masters, 2015 Open), he has not missed a cut since last year's Open at Royal Troon and posted 10 top-20 finishes in that period.
"I'm going to do the things I've been doing,'' he said Sunday at TPC Sawgrass. "This weekend was tough around this golf course. I went 2 over, which was disappointing for the weekend. But it was tough.
"I'm happy with the way my game is. I'm going to just keep on playing. I have two more [tournaments] before the U.S. Open, so hopefully I can have a few good weeks before then. But I'm happy with the way my game is.''
