[The Open] 24-Year-Old Morikawa "Already 2 Major Wins~"... Spieth 2nd (Summary)

149th D-Open Final Day 4-Under Par '2-Stroke Victory', Oosthuizen Stumbles with 1-Over Par, Ties for 3rd After Leading Three Days

Collin Morikawa is cheering while holding the Claret Jug immediately after winning his 149th Open. Sandwich (England) = Getty Images / Multibits

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] 24-year-old Collin Morikawa (USA) has succeeded in capturing his second major title.

This time, it was the 149th Open Championship (total prize money $11.5 million), known as the oldest major in the global golf world. On the final day, which ended in the early morning of the 19th (Korean time) at Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, England (par 70, 7,189 yards), he added 4 under par to secure a 2-stroke victory (15 under par, 265 strokes). This marks his second win of the 2021 season following the World Golf Championships (WGC) Workday Championship in March, his fifth PGA Tour victory overall, and the winner's prize money was $2.07 million (23.62 billion KRW).

Morikawa is a next-generation world star who ranked number one in the world amateur rankings in 2018. After turning professional in 2019, he immediately claimed his first victory at the Barracuda Championship in July. His consistency was remarkable with '22 consecutive cuts made' through to the RBC Heritage in June 2020, and in July, he once again drew the spotlight by defeating Justin Thomas (USA) in a playoff at the Workday Charity Open. In August, he finally joined the ranks of major champions by winning the PGA Championship.

This year, he also demonstrated his presence with a WGC series win. It is interesting that Morikawa won both the PGA Championship and this Open Championship on his first appearances. Starting the day in second place, one stroke behind, he seized control with three consecutive birdies from holes 7 to 9. Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), who had dominated the leaderboard throughout the three days, faltered with a 2-over-par round, leaving no significant challengers. Morikawa sealed the victory with a birdie on the 15th hole (par 5). Above all, his 'stingy putting' averaging 1.56 putts per hole proved to be powerful.

Speith finished second (13 under par, 267 strokes), while Oosthuizen eventually slipped to joint third place (11 under par, 269 strokes) with a 1-over-par round. After finishing runner-up consecutively at the PGA Championship in May and the US Open in June, the 'wire-to-wire' victory slipped away this time. 'US Open champion' Jon Rahm (Spain)'s bid for back-to-back major wins stopped at a tie for third place. Brooks Koepka led the daily best with 5 under par to finish tied for sixth (8 under par, 272 strokes), and 'Number 1' Dustin Johnson (both USA) finished tied for eighth (7 under par, 273 strokes). An Byeong-hun (30, CJ Logistics) remained tied for 26th place (3 under par, 277 strokes).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.