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Andy Buchanan

That view last August in San Francisco turned out to be something other than a mirage born of fog or marine layer or secondhand fumes from something or other. It turned out legit. A 23-year-old Collin Morikawa looked like fresh greatness back then, and a 24-year-old Morikawa looked like ratified greatness Sunday.

With a pristine round of four birdies and 14 pars and 10-foot par saves and approach shots that seemed to beg for string quartets sitting greenside, Morikawa won the 149th British Open in the sunshine over at Royal St. George’s in southeastern England. He won at 15 under par by two shots over Jordan Spieth and by four over habitual contender Louis Oosthuizen and reigning U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm. He won near the English Channel with 32,000 fans around in his first try at the Open, golf’s oldest test of organized misery, just as he had won 11 months earlier in his first try at the PGA Championship near the Pacific Ocean with zero fans around.

“To hear ‘Champion Golfer of the Year,’ chills,” he told reporters in a news conference afterward, having just heard that traditional Open phrase before delivering a victory speech of uncommon polish and heart, aired on NBC and sprinkled with conducting a singing crowd in “Happy Birthday” to Morikawa’s 39-year-old caddie, J.J. Jakovac.

Glyn Kirk

That crowd beheld a veritable stranger set to stay around forever as engraved on the claret jug and the first prodigious pup to win two different majors in two different first tries, even if Morikawa’s age while winning two majors exceeds that of bright lights such as Gene Sarazen (20), Spieth (21), Tiger Woods (23) and Rory McIlroy (23). He will cope, somehow, with this stat among many: While Woods won two of his first 12 majors as a pro and Spieth whittled that to 10, Morikawa has won two in eight. It looks like quite some life up ahead for this maker of Sunday masterpieces from La Cañada Flintridge in the San Gabriel Valley just above Los Angeles, a life with an ever-decreasing need to lean on that business degree from Cal (Class of 2019), what with five wins on the PGA Tour already.

For a highlight of that budding life to go right up alongside his luck-unrelated eagle on the par-4 No. 16 at Harding Park back in San Francisco, a Sunday in Sandwich just across the way from France closed an Open that had returned from a one-year coronavirus hiatus. It began as a story of mainly three golfers: the omnipresent Oosthuizen at 12 under par, Morikawa at 11 under par and Spieth at 9 under par. It distilled to two for a while (Morikawa and Spieth), then wound up flattering to one. “I’m glad I look calm because the nerves are definitely up there,” Morikawa said, “but you channel those nerves into excitement and energy, and that puts you away from a fear factor into ‘This is something I want.’ ”

At one point he concluded in general, “Yeah, I just want more.”

Spieth has some want, too, having boomeranged from No. 1 in the world to No. 92 and back toward the top 20. When he torched the place with one meandering eagle and four gathering birdies through holes Nos. 7-14, he nibbled as closely as one shot, then spent the bulk of the finish trailing by two. Could Morikawa, whose 20-foot birdie on No. 14 restored a two-shot margin, keep that lead through four closing holes?

He could, with talent that continues to blossom and a central nervous system that continues to behave. Paul Azinger, the 1993 PGA champion, said on the NBC telecast that Morikawa handles pressure “as well as anybody I’ve seen since Tiger Woods.” His closing 66 got plenty near Greg Norman’s revered 64 from the same tournament and course in 1993. He made his march from an early tangle with Oosthuizen with a sequence of birdies at Nos. 7 through 9, rich in pretty approaches, and he kept the lead from there.

This British Open is a lamb, and it’s being devoured by greatness

He putted with such polish for an alleged weakness — with “weakness” a relative term — that he finished tied for first in the field at 27.75 putts per round. “Yeah, everything about my stats say I’m not a good putter statistically,” he told reporters, soon adding, “But in those situations I feel like everything is thrown off the table. Forget about all your stats. Who can perform in these situations?”

“From what I’ve heard since,” Spieth said, “he made, I guess, made a big par save on 10, made a [birdie] putt up the ridge on 14 and a par save on 15. I needed a break, and I didn’t get it from him.”

That made it “hard to be upset when I was a couple over [par] through six,” Spieth said, directing his lingering angst toward Saturday when he closed with two bogeys from two fairways, which made him “about as upset as I’ve taken a finish of a round to the house: I walked in and wanted to — I said, ‘Is there something that I can break?’ ”

Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered anyway given the poise of a front-runner who credited much to his Scottish Open appearance of the previous week, when his 3-under-par score left him 15 shots off the lead but also left him learning. Morikawa arrived down south having changed the blades on his favorite clubs — irons Nos. 7 through 9 — and reconfigured his long-distance putting stroke from saw grip to conventional.

By the time he and Oosthuizen got to the par-5 No. 7, they stood tied at 11 under par, ready for the easiest hole on the course on a day of Open-record average scoring. Spieth had just eagled that thing to bounce back to 9 under. Then Oosthuizen, whom Morikawa called “an outright amazing player and person,” made an unplanned tour of two green-side bunkers, one to the other, the sand howling and flying — as did his first try that sailed over the green. His bogey would become only the fifth all day on No. 7.

Oisin Keniry

Morikawa traveled the hole with less theater, knocking a 6-iron from 229 yards to a calm spot in front of the green, then knocking a chip within whispering distance of the hole. It went from a tie to a two-shot lead — “definitely the turning point,” Morikawa said — and Oosthuizen’s 38-year-old countenance began to take on disappointment as he headed for a second third-place finish in the past six majors, to go with his six-runner-up finishes since 2012, following his one title at the 2010 Open at St. Andrews.

Meanwhile, with a stalwart’s set of skills and nerves, Morikawa birdied on, adding two more to make a four-shot cushion over Oosthuizen by the turn, as Spieth butted in.

“And you have to embrace it,” Morikawa said of the situation from there. “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.’ ”

That also went for anybody with an appreciation for mastery.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/17/british-open-third-round-louis-oosthuizen-collin-morikawa/" target=_blank>Louis Oosthuizen, who knows the pain of falling short, nears another British Open title</a>

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Read below for highlights from the 149th British Open:

Golf The Open 2021 -  Fourth Round, Sandwich, United Kingdom - 18 Jul 2021

Collin Morikawa used a string of three birdies, timed to Louis Oosterhuizen’s struggles, to overtake Oosterhuizen and hold off Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm for his first British Open win at the tender age of 24.

Morikawa finished 15-under, two strokes ahead of Speith and four ahead of Oosterhuizen and Rahm, whose late-round challenge wasn’t enough to overtake Morikawa. The victory in the final golf major of the year was the second for Morikawa who has played in only eight majors, and comes less than a year after he won the PGA Championship. Spieth, for instance, won two in his 10 first majors.

Cindy  Boren

It might have felt as if Collin Morikawa was on the ropes with Jordan Spieth, Louis Oosterhuizen, and Jon Rahm going birdie crazy behind him, but that was not the case.

Morikawa deftly and calmly sank a long putt for a birdie on No. 14, extending his lead over Spieth to two strokes. Another two strokes back, at 11-under, were Oosterhuizen, with only his second birdie of the day on 14, and Rahm, who was on a streak. His birdie at 16 was his fourth in a row (and he had an eagle at No. 7).

Jordan Spieth cut Collin Morikawa’s lead to a single stroke, pouncing on a birdie opportunity at the par-5 14th hole and bringing the British Open down to a duel over the final few holes.

Spieth, bidding for a fourth major and his second Claret Jug, cut into Morikawa’s 14-under score with his fifth birdie of the day. Morikawa, looking poised and confident despite being a pro golfer for just over two years, sank a par putt on the 13th hole.

The “oh, my” moments were coming fast and furious for Collin Morikawa as he went on a birdie run, but Louie Oosterhuizen supplied one of his own at No. 11.

Trailing Morikawa by four strokes, Oosterhuizen uncorked a drive that very nearly was an ace, stopped only by its collision with the flagstick. That left Oosterhuizen with a short putt for birdie and, coupled with Morikawa’s par putt, moved Oosterhuizen to 11-under, three strokes back of Morikawa.

The birdie was the first of the day for Oosterhuizen, who desperately needed a break.

The pressure has moved to the 24-year-old shoulders of Collin Morikawa, who apparently is feeling none of it as he bids for his second major championship.

If he felt footsteps, he didn’t show it, taking birdies on three straight holes (7, 8, 9).

But Jordan Spieth was finding his groove, too, with two birdies that left him three strokes behind Morikawa at 11-under. Louis Oosterhuizen, hoping to win the tournament after leading each of the first three rounds, slipped to 10-under.

Louie Oosterhuizen found sand, landing in a bunker on No. 7 and compounded his error by sending his bunker shot into orbit — and into another bunker. This, on a par-5 hole on which there have been eight eagles Sunday.

His second bunker shot sailed long, leaving him with a difficult putt that he placed just a few inches from the hole. That dropped him to two strokes back of Collin Morikawa.

Morikawa, sensing the chance to take the lead outright, nicely putted out for a birdie and a two-stroke lead. Lurking in third at 9-under remains Jordan Spieth.

Jordan Spieth and Corey Conners made big moves with eagles on No. 7.

That dropped them into a tie for third at 9-under.

Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka finished the round with a five-under 65 that put him at 8-under for the tournament.

Louis Oosterhuizen and Collin Morikawa remained tied for the lead at 11-under as they headed to the eagle-able par-5, 561-yard seventh hole, where there have been eight eagles Sunday.

The 149th Open - Day Three

Only one golfer was within one stroke of Louis Oosterhuizen going into the final round of the last of golf’s major tournaments in 2021. That distinction means that Collin Morikawa is paired with Oosterhuizen, playing in the final pairing for the first time in a major.

The 24-year-old golfer, winner of the PGA Championship last year, had struggled with his irons on the Sandwich course, using two putting strokes in his first test on links golf. Morikawa was four shots back after 10 holes, before making a strong push and finishing with a two-under 68.

“I don’t have much experience on links golf, and pretty much all the highlights in my head are from this week,” Morikawa said Saturday. “Thankfully there is quite a few. Hopefully we can just use that momentum from the first three days and just bring it into the last 18.”

The last man to win the tournament in his first appearance was Ben Curtis, who won in 2003 when the tournament, like the 2021 version, just happened to be played Royal St. George’s.

Both Louie Oosterhuizen and Collin Morikawa sent their second shots wide of the green on the par-four 500-yard fourth hole.

But Morikawa left the hole still at 11-under par while Oosterhuizen took a bogey, falling into a tie with Morikawa.

The first five holes are among the most difficult on the Royal St. George’s course and Louis Oosthuizen and Collin Morikawa took pars on the first three.

Oosthuizen had a tricky time of it on the par 3, 227-yard No. 3 hole, leaving his tee shot short of the green, but, like the other two men, he converted his par putt. At the moment, he seems determined to hold off the challengers and win after finishing second in the PGA Championship and U.S. Open.

Weather conditions on the Sandwich course are ideal, warm and windless as play begins.

No yips yet. Louis Oosthuizen, trying to win a major after finishing second in the last two, started strong, as did his playing partner, Collin Morikawa, and Jordan Spieth.

Spieth, playing in the second pairing, managed par on the par-four, 417-yard first hole to remain at 9-under. Oosthuizen and Morikawa both found the fairway off the tee, with Oosthuizen driving his shot 281 yards and Morikawa going for 320.

Oosthuizen and Morikawa maintained the status quo from Saturday, with Oosthuizen still leading Morikawa by a stroke, at 12-under, after both left their birdie putts short on the first hole.

How good has Louis Oosthuizen been in the British Open? He finished Saturday’s round in a tie for the second-best 54-hole score in Open history with a score of 198, trailing only Shane Lowry in 2019.

He has led after all three rounds and a wire-to-wire win in the Open would be something that only Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have done in the last 30 years (via ESPN Stats and Info).

The leader after 54 holes has gone on to win four of the last eight Opens. The other four times, the winner trailed by at least three shots after 54 holes.

British Open Golf

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/12/british-open-tee-times-how-watch-royal-st-georges/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2&itid=lk_inline_manual_90">The 149th British Open</a> is being played at the southernmost course on the rota, a course less revered than most of the others in the rotation, yet a course that has seen 14 previous Opens and untold pain mingled with sporadic joy.

Royal St. George’s is the course where 42-year-old Darren Clarke notched a wildly popular win by three over Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/golf/2011-british-open-darren-clarke-wins-his-first-major/2011/07/17/gIQAB4tLKI_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_4&itid=lk_inline_manual_91">at the 2011 Open</a>, then met reporters the next morning and said, “I had quite a few pints and quite a few beers and quite a few glasses of red wine.”

It’s the course where 26-year-old Ohioan Ben Curtis <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2003/07/22/curtis-really-cut-the-mustard-in-sandwich/9b47aba8-5bf1-44a2-a8cd-72acf4738336/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5&itid=lk_inline_manual_92">won as a 750-1 shot in his first major in 2003</a> but also where one of the most horrifying late-major sights yet seen happened on the par-3, 163-yard No. 16: Thomas Bjorn needed three shots to get out of one of the 106 bunkers on the course.

It’s the course where a 38-year-old Greg Norman topped a spectacular leader board at the 1993 Open. And it’s the course where a golfing comet named Bill Rogers epitomized his four wins in his stunning 1981 by claiming the Open by four shots.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/14/royal-st-george-british-open-history/?itid=lk_inline_manual_94" target=_blank>Read the full story </a>

Chuck Culpepper

A proper mensch might say the 149th British Open ought to go to Louis Oosthuizen on Sunday because — come on, man, anybody who has contended that routinely ought to get rewarded.

Sports don’t work that way, of course, so Oosthuizen, a runner-up at the 2021 PGA Championship and the 2021 U.S. Open — and at four other majors since 2012 after his 2010 British Open title at St. Andrews — must do some serious fending-off. The 38-year-old South African must fend off, for starters, Collin Morikawa, a phenom of mesmerizing skill and nerve whose absurd age (24) might make a proper mensch say, Come on, man, you will have lots of chances left.

That thought can’t enter the fray, either, so Oosthuizen at 12 under par and Morikawa at 11 under will form the final pairing again Sunday. Oosthuizen will also have to conquer the others lurking behind Morikawa: famed Texan Jordan Spieth, Canadian Corey Conners and 25-year-old Texan Scottie Scheffler, and three pursuers further back — South African Dylan Frittelli, Canadian Mackenzie Hughes and Spaniard Jon Rahm,

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/17/british-open-third-round-louis-oosthuizen-collin-morikawa/?itid=lk_inline_manual_99" target=_blank>Read the full story </a>

Here are the scheduled tee times for the men at the top of the leader board as Sunday’s final round began.

9:05 a.m.: Dylan Frittelli, Mackenzie Hughes

9:15 a.m.: Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler

9:25 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Corey Conners

9:35 a.m.: Louis Oosthuizen, Collin Morikawa

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University of Virginia, BA in rhetoric and communication studies

Chuck Culpepper covers national college sports as well as some tennis, golf and international sports for The Washington Post. He wrote previously for Sports On Earth/USA Today, The National (Abu Dhabi), the Los Angeles Times (while London-based), Newsday, the Oregonian, the Lexington Herald-Leader and, from age 14, the Suffolk Sun/Virginian-Pilot.

Southeast Missouri, BA in English and journalism

Cindy Boren arrived at The Post in 2000 as an assignment editor in charge of baseball and NFL/Washington Football Team coverage. She switched to full-time writing, focusing on national sports stories and issues, when she founded The Early Lead blog in 2010. 

Collin Morikawa rallies to win British Open, his second major in just eight Grand Slam starts

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