Oosthuizen's pregnant wife OK after fainting on course
Rep says she suffered dehydration while caddying for husband during par-3 tournament.
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Eighty-three degrees and mildly humid: perfect weather for the Par-3 Contest on an Augusta Wednesday afternoon.
Not so great weather for a woman who is 6 months' pregnant to be walking up and down daunting Georgia hills in Masters coveralls while herding two little girls and caddying for her husband.
At 12:45 p.m., beneath a baking midday sun, Nel-Mare Oosthuizen sat panting on the the seventh tee of the Par-3 course as a paramedic and a doctor hurried to her side. As a caddie for her husband - players often use family members or friends - she and daughters Jana, 3, and Sophia, 1, sported the requisite, long-sleeved garments with "Oosty" on block letters on the back.
An hour into the round, the heat overcame Nel-Mare, said George Coetzee, one of Oosthuizen's playing partners, who, along with Charl Schwartzel, completed a group of frightened South Africans.
"She fainted," Coetzee said. "She was all right after a couple of minutes."
Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Jim Furyk played through, creating quite a collection of kids on the tee, since Mickelson's three children and Furyk's daughter also caddied for their fathers.
Indeed, Nel-Mare quickly recovered, sat on the bench on the seventh tee and drank water, the coveralls now unbuttoned to her waist, revealing a proud baby bump.
"She's due in the summer," Coetzee said. "He's missing the U.S. Open to be at the birth."
The U.S. Open will be played at Merion Golf Club from June 13-16 in Ardmore. Oosthuizen, 30, won the 2010 British Open at St. Andrews and finished second to Bubba Watson after a two-hole sudden-death playoff at last year's Masters.
After Mickelson's group played through, Louis, Nel-Mare and Sophia followed the medical personnel down a steep hill to await a hospital cart, which whisked them away toward the clubhouse.
A representative for Oosthuizen indicated that, 3 hours after the fainting episode, Nel-Mare was resting at her residence in Augusta and showed no signs of additional duress. The representative said she would be reexamined by a doctor Wednesday evening.
Also, the representative indicated that she collapsed because of dehydration.
- Marcus Hayes