By Justin HAGER
La Cañada High School graduate Collin Morikawa, 24, made history on Sunday by winning the Open Championship Tournament, also known as the British Open, finishing two strokes ahead of second-place finisher Jordan Spieth and third place finishers Jon Rahm and Louis Oosthuizen. By winning the tournament in his first attempt, he became the first golfer in history to win two majors in debut attempts, the third golfer to win multiple majors in eight or fewer starts, and only the eighth golfer to win two majors before the age of 25 – other names on those lists include such legends as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones. The win also secured Morikawa’s place as the current number one ranked golfer in the world, a position he is likely to hold onto given that the next major tournament on the PGA tour schedule does not take place until next April.
Perhaps more impressive than the victory itself is the way in which Morikawa achieved it. He shot only four bogeys in the entire tournament, didn’t have a single bogey in his final 31-holes and made three-straight birdies at the turn on the final day to build a cushion that proved essential to holding off a hard-charging Jordan Spieth. He finished 15 under par with a fourth round score of 66.
Beyond his skills on the course, Morikawa also proved himself to be an affable and humble competitor. His first act after receiving the silver Claret Jug was to honor Matthias Schmid, the lowest scoring amateur to make the cut in this year’s open.
Celebrating his own youth, Morikawa told Schmid, “It feels like literally two years ago I was an amateur.” The comment brought laughs as two years ago, Morikawa was literally an amateur, less than two months out from his graduation from UC Berkeley and only five months out from winning the PAC-12 Championship and Golfer of the Year honors.
As if his humble and humorous commentary at the 18th hole of The Royal St George’s Golf Club weren’t enough, Morikawa proved his likability once again just 24 hours later as he was spotted disembarking from a commercial flight at the Atlanta International Airport carrying the silver Claret Jug trophy with him and beaming just as brightly as he had the day before.
Fans can cheer on Morikawa as he seeks his next prize, a gold medal, at the Tokyo Olympics later this month. Morikawa has never played in the Olympics before and, for the sake of the U.S. Olympics team, let’s hope that his “beginners’ luck” continues straight to the podium.