After Collin Morikawa had completed his usual ball strike apprenticeship for two rounds, he made two bogeys on his first five holes on Saturday at The Open Championship and quickly found himself four strokes behind the lead.
But the shots fired weren’t the product of bad blows, at least not to Morikawa. He had 120 yards into the second hole, into the wind, and made his approach over the green. Strange. He thought he had hit a good 5 wood in the fifth hole and was unlucky. Another bogeyman.
« I just believed I could still take good shots, » he said. “No matter what happens tomorrow, I know that I’ve already made good golf shots this week and that I am able to do so. I just have to stick to it and believe in the process. Hopefully we can just put it together from hole 1 to hole 18. «
Morikawa shook off this seedy start with a bogey-free game for the rest of the day and carded four birdies for a 68.
Morikawa gets into the rhythm on Round 3 at The Open
At 11 under 199 on his Open debut, he is just a setback from Louis Oosthuizen, who moves into the finals at Royal St. George’s. When he won the PGA Championship last summer, Morikawa left 65-64 over the weekend. It followed the last day at two. « The biggest thing I can get out of the PGA is just knowing I can do it, » he said. “But confidence comes from good shots, quality shots and seeing putts. There is a lot to be drawn from, especially this week. I haven’t had a lot of experience with links golf and pretty much all of the highlights in my head are from this week. Luckily there are some.
« Hopefully we can just use the momentum of the first three days and bring it into the last 18. It will be a strenuous 18, but I’m looking forward to it. »
BY Rex Hoggard
BY Rex Hoggard
BY Ryan Lavner
After big second rounds Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson drop out of the competition after below average third rounds.
Jordan Spieth finished his third round of the Open where he started, but as always there was nothing stagnant his game.
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