Louis Oosthuizen admits ‘time to move on’ from LIV Golf ahead of Hong Kong Open

转载声明：本文转载自 South China Morning Post，版权归原作者及原媒体所有。

Ex-Open champion and LIV team captain set to return from a two-month injury lay-off to play at ‘a course I love’ this week

Louis Oosthuizen has joined the LIV Golf exodus, saying it was “time to move on” after four years on the breakaway tour.

Twice a LIV tournament runner-up, and captain of the Southern Guards GC team, Oosthuizen is poised to return from a two-month injury lay-off in this week’s Link Hong Kong Open from Thursday.

The bottom fell out of LIV this year when its Saudi Arabian backers turned off the money taps. Players have until Sunday to declare whether they would commit to a new iteration, after the rebel circuit secured a possible US$300 million from investment firm BC Partners Credit with a view to staging a 2027 season.

Oosthuizen said the prospective stripped-back schedule would demand “a lot of international travel for single events”, and he has duly followed fellow major champions Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed in quitting LIV.

Abraham Ancer, the 2024 LIV Hong Kong winner, has also walked away.

“I need to arrange my own schedule and look after my body,” Oosthuizen told the South China Morning Post. “I want to play near one spot for three weeks at a time, not have all the big travelling for one tournament.

“I loved LIV and the team aspect, but it’s time to move on.”

The 2010 Open champion, Oosthuizen missed this year’s edition in July because of a back problem. Sidelined again since he finished tied-43rd at LIV Indianapolis two months ago, the South African said the “time off not really doing much” had stoked his appetite to “play as much as I can”.

“You see the guys playing on TV and you miss it,” he said. “I feel I can still play and compete.”

Only eight players have had more major runner-up finishes than Oosthuizen’s six, but he believes he can still add to the championship he won at St Andrews 16 years ago. The Open is returning to the Scottish links next year.

“I’ve had some success at majors, but you work and play to have a sniff of that again,” Oosthuizen, who turned 44 on Monday, said.

“I’m at a different stage of my golfing life [from when he won his major] but it’s pretty sweet when you still get called the Open champion.

“I hope to get my body and my game in a place next year [to compete for majors] … the Open is at a course I love and where I’ve won. The goal is to get my game as sharp as possible, to have myself ready, then see how it goes.”

Tied third in the 2025 Hong Kong Open, 17 years after his debut appearance in the city, Oosthuizen was equally gushing about the event’s storied Fanling venue.

“It’s a course I love, and not one you really overpower,” he said. “I’d have been a bit more nervous going back [after injury] to a course where I had to really hit big drives. I remembered last year how much I liked it here, and I’ll play every year if I can.”

Feeling “relaxed and calm” ahead of his return to tournament play, Oosthuizen had “a few drinks up until midnight when it was my birthday” after arriving in Hong Kong late on Sunday.

On Monday, he went with his wife and friends to the Michelin-starred Beefbar restaurant in Central.

“There were nine of us and we had some good fun,” he said.

Oosthuizen was talking on the sidelines of a press event staged on The Peak, where Taichi Kho and Travis Smyth were also guests.

A winner on the Asian Tour for the second time when he claimed the International Series Morocco title in June, Hongkonger Kho said he had started the year “not in the best of places”, after 12 months spent trying to locate his form.

“I felt like I was quite lost, and I’m really proud of how I was able to rediscover my own game and what makes me good,” Kho, 25, said.

“Learning about that side of myself has made the year more special, because I’ve been able to get through some adversity, which is like an entry fee to professional golf.”

In addition to a handsome pay cheque, the winner of the Hong Kong Open will again gain entry into next year’s Open Championship and US Masters.

Smyth secured a DP World Tour card for 2027 after topping the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit this year, while the Australian had tournament successes in the ISPS Handa-Japan Australasia Championship and International Series Japan, in March and April, respectively.

“I’ve always said to people who go to watch the Masters that I’ll never go until I play,” Smyth said. “I really want to go, so I guess I’ll have to win this week.”

Fresh from a tied-ninth finish at last week’s SJM Macau Open, where he managed four sub-70 rounds, the 31-year-old said “getting my self-belief where it needed to be” had been responsible for what he has called a “life-changing year”.

“It’s one thing for everyone back home and my team to say ‘You’re a great player’, but until you believe that, and put yourself in positions to win tournaments, it tests a lot of you,” Smyth said.

“I started working with a sports psychologist about a year ago, and that’s been a huge help.

“Technically, I haven’t changed much; it’s more my overall attitude. Constantly being aware of that little voice inside your head, and trying to get it to where you need it to be to compete against world-class players.”