With his win at The 149th Open Championship, Collin Morikawa is the first player in the history of the game to win two different majors on their first attempt. His name stands alone. No Woods, Mickelson, Nicklaus, Hogan, Player or Palmer.
Granted a pandemic of epic proportions made the achievement more accessible but it still should not be discounted.
Morikawa had a 4-under final round of 66 to win the final major of the year at Royal St George’s by two shots ahead of Jordan Spieth on 13-under with Jon Rahm and overnight leader Louis Oosthuizen tied for third on 11-under.
Kiwi Ryan Fox had a final round shocker shooting a 6-over 76 for a final score of 3-over the card to finish tied for 67th.
“Honestly today was utterly shite, to be honest,” Fox said after his round. “It was a very disappointing weekend, to be honest. There were signs that were good both days, just made too many mistakes, to be honest.
“Hit it in the long grass a bit too many times and got severely punished, as you can during links golf.”
Fox played alongside multiple major champion Brooks Koepka in the final round and was given a lesson as Koepka shot the round of the day of 5-under to finish ted for 6th place, seven shots from Morikawa.
“You can see why Brooks has won four major championships,” Fox continued, “He started a little bit scrappy and made some pars and then caught fire from six onwards. To be honest, he left quite a few out there on the back nine. Could have easily got to double digits.
“I guess that’s where I need to be, just find a little bit more consistency and stop making too many silly mistakes like I made over the weekend. I feel like — I’m not necessarily close, but I’m not miles away either.”
For Morikawa, it seems the world of golf is all his and he is just trying to enjoy every single minute of winning. It’s his second major win in just eight major starts, he joined Tiger Woods as the only player to win The Open and PGA Championship before age 25 and he became the third player to win multiple majors with final rounds of 66 or better joining Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.
“At 24 years old, it’s so hard to look back at the two short years that I have been a pro and see what I’ve done because I want more,” Morikawa 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 drink out of this.”
“Champion Golfer of the Year” pic.twitter.com/mHbUm5C17W
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) July 18, 2021
And what was his secret this week?
“Well, I never do this, but I had a burger for four straight days, so my body is probably feeling it. I know my body’s feeling it. I think I just enjoy these moments, and I talk about it so much that we love what we do.
“And you have to embrace it. You have to be excited about these opportunities, and that’s how I looked at it today, especially coming down the stretch, was I’m excited.
“To have the Claret Jug right here in my possession for a year, I believe, I’m excited to have it.”