Five weeks ago, Graeme McDowell proved the steadiest when Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and other marquee names couldn't keep from snagging golf spikes at Pebble Beach.
Louis Oosthuizen follows with the most dominant non-Tiger performance in a major since Jack Nicklaus 30 years ago.
The casual golf fan asks, "Who are these guys?"
The answer: Maybe folks just haven't been paying enough attention. Especially when it comes to players who spend the bulk of their time on the other side of the pond.
"We've all known Louis has been a great player for a long time," said Rory McIlroy, the who may have been pressed to catch Oosthuizen even without that gone-with-the-wind 80 that blew him off the leaderboard.
"He does everything well. I think he needed that win early in the season on the European Tour to give him that little bit of confidence to challenge for the biggest events."
Oosthuizen showed his game was on the upswing when he won the Andalucia Open last March. Don't feel too badly, though, if it escaped your attention. Airport security also wasn't impressed — making him leave the trophy at Malaga Airport after deeming it a "dangerous object."
At least McDowell encountered no such trouble after capturing the Wales Open shortly before Pebble Beach.
The bigger point is these weren't out-of-the-blue winners.
McDowell got into the U.S. Open because he was No. 49 in the world rankings on the cutoff date to award automatic entry to the top 50. Oosthuizen was 54th when he arrived at St. Andrews last week.
Toss out Woods' three major blowouts (1997 Masters, 2000 U.S. and British Opens) and Oosthuizen's winning margin is the largest since Nicklaus won by seven at the 1980 PGA.
In that sense, both were far lesser long shots than a couple of last year's major champs.
Lucas Glover ranked No. 71 when he bubbled to the top at soggy Bethpage; Y.E. Yang was 110th when he stared down Woods on the PGA's final day at Hazeltine.
That quartet and Stewart Cink have given golf five new major champions in the past six Grand Slam events, a run interrupted only by Mickelson's Masters triumph in April.
And maybe that's where the game is now. Woods continues to spin his wheels.
Mickelson hasn't done much better since Augusta, still unable to dislodge Woods atop the rankings.
Somebody has to step in and fill the void. And in case anyone hasn't noticed, even the regular PGA Tour stops have had a heavy international flair of late — Americans have won only four of the past 13.
jshain@tribune.com