The American golfer played a flawless final round at Royal St George, stopping all challengers to finish at 15 under, two strokes ahead of Jordan Spieth.
SANDWICH, England - Louis Osthuizen has certainly paid his dues since winning the British Open in 2010, finishing as runner-up on six occasions in major championships. Jordan Spieth revived his fading game after a two-year struggle and made some payoff.
But Collin Morikawa is a young man in a hurry, and on Sunday, he again proved that experience was overrated, winning the British Open on his first attempt by beating Osthuizen in the final pair and catching Spieth on the closing hole.
"You have to embrace it," said Morikawa, 24, of California. "You have to be excited about these opportunities, and that's how I saw it today, especially coming down the stretch."
Much easier said than done, but Morikawa remains focused, yet not too tightly wound from the start: chuckles with her caddy, J.J. Jakovac, as he drove first onto the fairway and then remained remarkably firm as the pressure continued to mount on another sun-drenched afternoon at the Royal St George Golf Club.
He may not have won the British Open in classic conditions – strong winds, rain and the chill of summer – but he won it in style nonetheless. He made four birdies and a bogey as he shot a four-under-par 66 to finish at 15-under, two strokes ahead of Spieth, who was playing in the penalty group and playing very well.
"Obviously, with the shots he hits and the puts he holds, he's not afraid of high pressure situations and wins a big championship," Spieth said of Morikawa. Royal St George is the same venerable and undulating English seaside course where another young American, Ben Curtis, prevailed on his first voyage in 2003.
But Curtis was a big surprise who has yet to score another big win. Morikawa is an established threat who was ranked fourth in the world when it comes to sandwiches.
Last year, he also won the PGA Championship in his first attempt, T.P.C. Harding Park in San Francisco claimed its first Major.
learning curve? What's the learning curve?
"It's the same thing I said after winning the PGA. It looks like he's been there 100 times, and he just hasn't," Jakovac said. "It just goes to his mental strength and his maturity, and you combine the awkward ball into an absolute stone-cold demeanor that's so comfortable in all situations - you find someone very special."
Morikawa is the first player to win two separate major championships in his debut appearance in men's golf.
He graduated with a business degree in 2019 after four years at the University of California, Berkeley. He is not the longest hitter and sometimes struggles hard with his put. His dreamy long iron game is the core of his game. Slow backswings are his hallmark. He's a deliberate player—an untested shot certainly not worth hitting—but he clearly has the ability to mentally prepare himself for the game's biggest challenges.
"From day one, I believed in myself that I had become a professional that I could do it," Morikawa said. "When it comes to these tournaments I've never played, I do my work, do my homework Monday through Wednesday to know what I need to do."
With little experience on links courses, he went to the Scottish Open a week before arriving at Royal St George. He decided to change his 7-8-9 iron before the start of the British Open. On Wednesday, the day before the tournament begins, he decided to return to the traditional put grip for the long-distance putt to gain more power.
It worked, and though he's near the bottom of putting PGA Tour figures this season, he put up beautifully, especially on Sunday.
But while intense research and smart changes clearly have their benefits, it's still hard to model results like Sunday, when you're from two shots at the start of the round with 32,000 fans to the final pair of a former champion like Osthuizen. . Off the ropes and ready to roar through knocks and ridges.
He won the PGA. Championship without fans on site due to pandemic. "I hope this thing is over that I can play with the fans and I can play well on Sunday," Morikawa said.
He took it all on this special Sunday and didn't crack. Instead, it was 38-year-old South African Osthuizen who, despite leading the entire tournament, failed to close.
Morikawa took part of the lead in the fourth hole and took an outright lead on the par-5 seventh for the first time in the tournament, knocking in a tap-in birdie after hitting a shot at Osthuizen's bunker and then-sending his next shot to the second of the green. Kill in the bunker. Oosthuizen ended with a bogey 6: a two-stroke swing that, at that level, felt like match play.
Morikawa never gave up the lead, despite a charge inspired by the 27-year-old American Spieth, who won the 2017 British Open. After a shaky start, Spieth made an eagle on seventh and got within a shot of Morikawa's lead when he sank a birdie putt on the 14th hole to go 13-under.
But Morikawa, well aware of Spieth's bounce, made a curling uphill birdie put on the 14th hole to quickly give himself more cushion to go 15 under. Spieth couldn't manage to close the gap despite all the spring in his move and the urgency in his words as he talked his shots in the middle.
Morikawa closed out his latest notable Major by leveling on the final four holes, with the only real scare coming on 15 where he hit his approach shot into the deep rough. But he chipped within 10 feet and then made a put. He finished with a 15-under-par total of 265 after receiving a standing ovation from the full grandstand on the 18th hole. Spieth was in second place with 13 under. This year's U.S. Open champions Osthuizen and Jon Rahm are third with 11 under.
"I'm glad I look calm because the nerves are definitely up, but you channel these nerves in excitement and energy," he said. "That's how I look at it, especially when the last nine holes were coming in. Jordan was making the birdie. I think Rahm was pushing. Louie hit a birdie on 11, an amazing birdie. You're about to score I can't worry. I have to worry about every shot. Can I execute every shot to the best of my ability? Some we did, some we didn't, and then you move on."
Morikawa is the second player to win twice in his first eight Majors. The other was Bobby Jones in 1926. For context, Tiger Woods started 18 to win his first two Majors. That doesn't mean we should compare Morikawa to Woods, a 14-time major champion who has gone on to become one of the biggest stars in global sports. But Morikawa has bigger dreams of her own.
"I think he has some big goals in mind for his career in golf," Jakovac said. "You should be more concerned about him not enjoying it enough. He's a 'let's be the next one' kind of guy.
Was he already talking about the next Sunday?
"No," said Jakovac. "But they did after the PGA. Very quickly. I was like, 'Brother, just relax.'"
Morikawa seems to have got the message.
"At 24, it's so hard to look back on the two younger years I've been a pro and see what I've done because I want more," he said. “I enjoy these moments, and I love it. And I want to teach myself to embrace it a little more, maybe spend a few extra days and sit back and consume it.” He was referring to the claret jug, which is given to the winner of the British Open and on which his name was already inscribed as he kept it closed on Sunday night.
Source by internet,
Created by MOHAMMAD SHOAIB.
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