Louis's shot of the Month

Louis Oosthuizen’s stunning albatross during the final round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club has been voted by fans of My European Tour as Shot of the Month for April. A sublime four iron from 235 yards, Oosthuizen’s moment of genius at the 575-yard second hole propelled him into the record books as only the fourth man to make an albatross in 76 editions of the Masters Tournament, and was the first to come on the second hole, also known as ‘Pink Dogwood’. The South African’s magic Masters moment – one of three entries for the five-time European Tour winner shortlisted for the April competition – was a landslide winner, securing more than 95 per cent of the public vote, also holding off entries from Martin Kaymer, who holed a bunker shot at the Maybank Malaysian Open, and Anthony Wall, who chipped in for eagle from off the green at the Ballantine’s Championship. Oosthuizen’s approach to the second at Augusta landed on the front of the green in between the two bunkers, and the ball fed its way across the green to the pin’s back right position before falling softly into the cup. Not only was Oosthuizen’s strike one for the record books, it also thrust him into the lead for the tournament at ten under par as the 2010 Open Champion went on to narrowly miss out on a second Major Championship after a dramatic play-off defeat at the hands of Bubba Watson. “That was my first albatross ever,” Oosthuizen said afterwards. “It was a good four iron for me. I needed to pitch it about five, six paces on the green, and I knew if I got it right, it was going to feed towards the hole. But I never thought it would go in.”  Oosthuizen joins Gene Sarazen (1935), Bruce Devlin (1967) and Jeff Maggert (1994) in the select club of players to hole their second shots on a par five since the Masters Tournament began in 1934, and was the first to be televised. The shot is the fourth to go forward to the 2012 Shot of the Year competition, following Sergio Garcia (January), Martin Kaymer (February) and Paul Casey (March).