Dublin: Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel can only hope that their matchplay strategy works out a lot better for the Internationals than their hairstyle plans at this week’s Presidents Cup.

The two South Africans, who are likely to play together in Thursday’s opening four-ball matches at Muirfield Village Golf Club, ended up having virtually all their hair shaved off in an error by a visiting barber on Monday night.

“It didn’t work out as well as we thought,” a grinning Oosthuizen said after the first official day of team practice at Muirfield Village on Tuesday. “He almost shaved everything off, and you know, walking into the team room Monday night, the two of us, we looked like we came straight out of the army. And Wednesday morning, waking up and looking at each other, we just laughed.

“Six of us that were supposed to get it, but it all stopped at Charl and no one else was having it,” the 30-year-old South African added. “I didn’t expect it to be like that.”

Asked if he had ever had his hair cut in similar fashion, Oosthuizen replied with a broad grin: “I did it actually once before, but it was planned. On Monday, it wasn’t planned.”

Schwartzel could have opted out after watching Oosthuizen’s severely short cut but he decided to follow suit. “Louis and myself, we were the guinea pigs,” Schwartzel said. “He went first and basically lost all his hair. And then I figured I just need a little touch up on the sides. And I ended up losing all my hair. None of the other guys volunteered to go.” (Reuters)