Oosthuizen triumph may herald new era of European Tour dominance

Published on Monday 19 July 2010 18:48

ANDREW Chandler, who manages new Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, has warned the Americans to get used to seeing European Tour players winning majors over the next few years.

The South African's success at St Andrews came hot on the heels of Graeme McDowell winning the US Open and Chandler, the man known as "Chubby", believes there are more majors to come from players who live and compete in Europe most of the time.

Speaking at St Andrews yesterday, he reflected on the golden era for European golf in the 1980s, when Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam all showed they could take on and beat the top Americans.

Chandler, the chief of International Sports Management (ISM), which also has Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke among others on its books, says there's an even bigger contingent of European Tour players going into majors these days believing they can win.

"I can sense what happened in the 80s is going to happen again," he said. "However, instead of five players, I think there will be 25 European Tour players heading into the USPGA Championship (at Whistling Straits next month] thinking they can claim the title.

"The European Tour is so strong, in fact, that I think we can win five of the next eight majors."

Chandler's words could prove chilling on the other side of the Atlantic, especially after the Americans failed at St Andrews to produce a player in the top six in the Open Championship for only the second time in the last 50 years. Sean O'Hair and Nick Watney shared seventh spot on the Old Course, while Muirfield in 2002, when Scott Hoch finished eighth, was the other occasion.

Els joined ISM after the most recent of his three triumphs in the game's biggest events so Oosthuizen, who has lived in the Manchester area for the last four years, is Chandler's first major winner.

A former European Tour player himself, Chandler revealed he'd been confident one of his players would claim the Claret Jug but conceded he thought that Els, Westwood or McIlroy would have been more likely candidates to win than Oosthuizen.

While heaping praise on the winner, he said: "Louis probably wouldn't have been my choice to be top South African."

While admitting he, too, is in new territory now, Chandler believes Oosthuizen, who has club manufacturer Ping as his only significant sponsorship deal at the moment, will have to win another major before he can even contemplate being in the same league as either Els or Retief Goosen in the money-earning business.

"It is more difficult for the South Africans to make money right away when they come over here and I think Louis will need to win another one to become a global player," he said.