Brazen postie Jim Alexander posed for a pic with Louis Oosthuizen at St Andrews' Old Course Hotel.
Open Blagger: Postie Jim Alexander sneaked into Louis Oosthuizen's celebration party
A cheeky golf fan had his photo taken with new Open champion Louis Oosthuizen after blagging his way into an exclusive party at St Andrews’ Old Course Hotel.
Bold Jim Alexander, 47, even got the celebrating South African to take a picture of himself holding the famous Claret Jug before being rumbled by security staff.
The postman camped out for six nights near the Fife links course to watch Oosthuizen run away from the rest of the field to win the title on Sunday.
Jim, from Turriff, Aberdeenshire, pretended to be on his mobile phone as he coolly ducked past a security guard who had turned his back.
After accepting a free Jack Daniels and Coke from the barman, Jim merged into the rest of the party.
“The first person I saw was Louis sitting on his own with the Claret Jug so I sat down beside him and told him he was a deserved champion. He shook my hand and I asked him if there was any chance of a photo. He said ‘no problem’ and called an R&A guy over to take our photo with my camera.
“Then I asked if there was any chance of getting a photo on my own holding the trophy and he said, ‘yeah, give me your camera’, and Louis actually took it himself!
“He said, ‘that’s a good photo, you’ll like that one’. I thanked him very much and then he moved on to speak to other people.”
A few minutes later Jim’s game was up when a security guard asked him to leave. But he didn’t go without saying bye to his new pal Louis.
“As he was escorting me out I said to him, ‘I’ll see you later Louis’, and he patted me on the back and said, ‘See you later, have a nice night.’
“Although it was only briefly I met him, he seemed like a really down to earth guy.”
Jim insists he doesn’t make a habit of gate crashing A-list parties, saying he was just in the right place at the right time.