He was cool, he was flawless, he came through in the clutch, made no mistakes on Sunday at the 149th Open Championship and by day’s end young Collin Morikawa was holding the iconic Claret Jug and declared Champion Golfer Of The Year.
Morikawa won his second career major championship in style with a round to remember. He made very few mistakes and when he did, he came through with magnificent par saves. He was machine-like, hitting fairway after fairway at firmed-up Royal St. George’s. He took control of the tournament early with three straight birdies to close out his outward nine holes on an 80-degree day with no wind to speak of. That 32 going out was good enough to overtake the overnight leader — Louis Oosthuizen — who was overpowered by Morikawa’s show of skill, accuracy and clutch putting.
The world’s fourth-ranked player made two clutch par saves at 10 an 15 and ran in a 20-footer for birdie at the par five 14th when feisty, charging Jordan Spieth had cut Collin’s lead to a single shot. With a two-shot margin of safety over Spieth, Morikawa calmly ran off pars on the four closing holes. He missed the 15th green left and his pitch left him with a nervous-looking 12-footer to save par and he ran that one in the middle to set up his march to victory.
Pars came easy at 16, 17 and 18 and he fought off a brave effort from Spieth, who made four birdies and an eagle after two bogeys over his first six holes had him sinking.
In the end, Morikawa had a perfect scorecard — 14 pars, four birdies and a closing 66 that went with his previous rounds of 67-64 and 68. His 15-under par total established an Open scoring record at Royal St. George’s, two shots better than Greg Norman when he won in 1993 with a 13-under par 72-hole total.
Morikawa’s closing 66 was equaled by Spieth, who will look back on his sloppy Saturday finish at 17 and 18 where he threw away two shots on holes where he was in position for easy pars.
As he accepted the Claret Jug, the first thing Morikawa did was turn the attention away from himself. He turned his head to the low amateur, Mattias Schmid, congratulated him and spoke highly of the young German. Morikawa isn’t much older. At the tender age of 24, he won his second major and in both the PGA and this Open Championship, he won in his first outing, something that hasn’t been done since the great Bobby Jones did it in 1926.
Legendary stuff.
Morikawa warmed the hearts of those on hand with his humble acceptance speech. He didn’t turn attention to his sponsors, he put his caddie in the spotlight and gave his family a lot of love.
“I wouldn’t be here without my family, my friends, my brother, my girlfriend. They weren’t able to make the trip, normally they make the trip to majors, but I know they have been waking up early to watch me play. I can feel the love and I hope I get to see them all really soon.”
As Morikawa was basking in victory’s glory, Spieth looked back on what might have been.
“I did everything could. I made every putt I needed to hole. It’s hard to be upset when I was a couple over (par) through six. “At seven, I said ‘we’re going for everything’ and I played the last 12 in six-under. I needed a break from him (Morikawa) and I didn’t get it. I did everything I could to win the championship.”
Back at the ceremony, Morikawa summed up week with ease:
“One of the best moments of my life,” he said as he carried the Claret Jug, proudly showing it off to thunderous applause from the packed stands around the 18th hole.
The scary part of this latest victory by young Morikawa is the fact that his career is just getting started.
6 Comments
baxter cepeda
Unbelievable.
Looks like Collins putting woes are a thing of the past huh?
It’s unbelievable he has won 2 majors in his first tries with two completely different putting grips.
His putting was sublime.
Off the charts.
Ridiculously awesome.
Even when he didn’t need to make putts Sunday he was running them in like a chaser, not a leader. Obviously he had zero choke in him.
His driver was steady and his irons spot on as expected, but that putting performance was clutch as it gets.
It’s such a reminder to guys like Bryson that in most major golf championships distance means very little compared to fairways, greens, short game and putting.
And that was some Unbelievable putting from Collin!
Gotta feel for Spieth who put up a valiant charge. And obviously Oosthuizen who is brave enough to keep putting himself in the spotlight in the biggest events doing much of the things Morikawa does; except the finishing. Hopefully the South African can get another one before he is done contending in majors…he definitely deserves one more.
But again what unbelievable Sunday putting from the Champion Golfer of the Year!
Tom Edrington
We had a little watch party with two PGA members watching, as soon as he birdied nine, I declared: “He’s in total control of the tournament, this one is virtually over.” Would never make a call that early in a major but Collin was so far “in the zone” it brought back memories of Nicklaus. Even Gary Koch commented that Collin played the way “they used to” in order to win majors….next up for him are the Olympics; An interesting major season to say the least. I was even more impressed at the ceremony when first thing he did was turn the attention to the low am from Germany — Schmid — Collin is a very humble champion….easy to love this kid, his attitude and his game. I do like the fact he went “conventional” with his putting grip from outside 30 feet before switching to that awful “paint brush” inside 20 feet….gotta give him credit for finally getting that grip to work for him…
baxter cepeda
Yes It definitely had that inevitable feeling by the turn that it was Morikawas event.
And yes Morikawa ‘gets it’.
As I’ve bragged before can probably run from my parents to his parents place. So I got that going for me. Which is nice. .. not that I’m trying to do that.
RM
If his putting stays consistent, it could be incredibly fun watching him for a long time. That’s kind of Captain Obviousesque, but I enjoy seeing a superstar who appears to embody all those hokey things like humility, unassuming, family oriented, etc., etc.
And sadly, I remain a bit Spieth skeptic, but I am a big fan and would love to see him continue to turn it around.
Tom Edrington
Collin made an adjustment to his putter in Scotland and credits playing there the week before for his success at Royal St. George’s. He won playing “old school” golf, a LOT of fairways, a LOT of greens and laser iron shots that gave him a lot of birdie looks; Nice to see someone unconcerned with the “distance chase.” We’ll be doing a follow-up feature on Collin for Wednesday.
baxter cepeda
Spieths not all the way back just yet but he is better than most right now.
It’s only a matter of time before he adds another big one. IMO. Unfortunately it’s going to take some time as the next golf major isn’t for 9 months. Ouch.
I would have really liked his chances at the Olympics.