Collin Morikawa was making one of the most satisfying walks in golf, down the 18th fairway as a soon-to-be Open champion, when he looked up at the huge grandstand surrounding the green.
It was filled with spectators, who firstly were applauding and soon giving a standing ovation to a 24-year-old American making a historic start to his major championship career.
The mature-beyond-his-years Californian closed with a bogey-free, 4-under 66 at Royal St. George’s and won The Open in his debut Sunday, becoming the first player to capture two different majors on the first attempt.
And this time there was a crowd, at 32,000 the biggest since golf returned following the coronavirus outbreak.
After tapping in for par to win by 2 shots over Jordan Spieth, Morikawa gave a fist pump before applauding the spectators.
Starting the final round 1 shot behind Louis Oosthuizen, Morikawa was tied for the lead after four holes and then made three straight birdies on Nos. 7 through 9 to overtake the South African, who hadn’t trailed since the 12th hole of his second round.
Morikawa made key par saves — pumping his fist both times — at Nos. 10 and 15, between which he rolled a birdie putt up and over a ridge and into the cup on the 14th to build a 2-stroke lead he never lost. Spieth parred his final four holes and also shot 66.
By making par at the last after another perfect drive, Morikawa played his final 31 holes without a bogey on a course that has confounded many great players because of its quirky bounces and undulating fairways.
All the more remarkable was that this was his first major test on a seaside links. Morikawa had little experience with this style of golf before playing the Scottish Open last week at the Renaissance Club, which is not a traditional links but features the kind of tight lies and rolling terrain that prepared him for it. He even had three new irons in his bag this week.
He matched a feat achieved by Ben Curtis on the same course in 2003, winning golf’s oldest championship in his links debut.