Three days later, Louis Oosthuizen was still tinged with disappointment following another close call in a major.

In a move that was largely out of character for the accommodating South African, Oosthuizen declined to talk to the media following his tie for third at The Open – his third consecutive top-3 finish in a major. He had led wire to wire until a final-round 71 at Royal St. George’s opened the door for Collin Morikawa to capture his second career major at age 24.

“You don’t want to always talk about being close again, finishing second, finishing third, so I wasn’t really up for that conversation right there. So it was disappointing,” Oosthuizen told reporters Wednesday ahead of the 3M Open. “It was just frustrating because I knew my game was definitely there to have a good, solid day. Weather was as good as you can get at The Open, so it was just a bit of frustration and disappointment, really.”

Following yet another near-miss, Oosthuizen boarded the late-night charter flight to Minnesota and arrived around 2 a.m. local time Monday. He rested the remainder of the day, logged a few sessions with his physiotherapist and has taken it easy during the practice rounds at TPC Twin Cities, where he is making his debut appearance.

Having cracked the top 10 in the world ranking for the first time since summer 2013, Oosthuizen is hoping to pay off this good stretch of form – and no longer dwell on what could have been in the majors this year. This week’s 3M, he said, offers a fresh opportunity.  

“You will be disappointed, but I try not to think of it too much afterward,” he said. “Assess everything and still look back at it as a good week, a great week, and let’s go on, what can I do better on the next one. Definitely motivate yourself to go to the next one and know that you can perform in majors and try to go one better. I’ll take more motivation out of it than being disappointed.”