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Johannesburg - Reigning British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen hopes for a change of luck when the 2011 Road-to-Dubai circuit begins on Thursday in the South African bush.
Since the 28-year-old native of Mossel Bay in the western Cape stunned the golf world last July with a runaway victory at hallowed St Andrews, lady luck has jilted him several times.
He was sidelined after tearing ankle ligaments when stepping into a pothole while hunting and a brace will protect the injury during the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek Country Club near eastern town Malelane.
Oosthuizen also wants to shake off a mystery bug blamed for a two-over last-place finish three days ago in his first appearance at the Sun City Challenge invitation tournament.
"My concentration levels were not great. I made a lot of birdies but I also made a lot of bogeys. I have no idea what hit me but do not think it was food poisoning," he told reporters.
The Open champion - who has switched to the US Tour when their 2011 season gets underway - was upset as he desperately wanted to test his mettle against the likes of world number one Lee Westwood of England, who won at a canter, and local favourite Ernie Els.
"Winning the British Open changed my mindset. I am much more confident now and every time I go to the first tee at a tournament all I am thinking about is finishing first," he said.
Oosthuizen is the star attraction at the South African and European co-sanctioned one-million-euro Dunhill event on a course South African legend Gary Player designed and many pundits rate the best in the country.
While Oosthuizen is alone among the 12-man Sun City field in driving 400 kilometres from Johannesburg to the eastern Mpumalanga province, there is no shortage of top-class opposition awaiting him.
Fellow South African Charl Schwartzel, whose eighth-place finish in the 2010 Road to Dubai was two positions above Oosthuizen, came second behind shock victor Pablo Martin from Spain in the last Dunhill.
The first golfer to win European events as an amateur and a professional, Martin was more interested in the wildlife of the neighbouring Kruger National Park and entered the championship as an afterthought.
A nine-under second round of 63 over the 6,631-metre layout lifted him to the top of the leaderboard and a closing 68 earned the 23-year-old native of Malaga a one-stroke triumph over Schwartzel.
Other former champions among the 156-strong field include Richard Sterne of South Africa, Englishmen John Bickerton and Anthony Wall and Marcel Siem from Germany.
Leopard Creek is the stunning brainchild of Player, now a hyper-fit 75-year-old and winner of a record nine Majors for a South African, and billionaire businessman Johann Rupert.
And as the golfers seek birdies, eagles and albatrosses, they will not be short of animal-kingdom company with the lakes dotting the course containing crocodiles and hippos while antelope and buffalo are also commonplace.
