It seemed Collin Morikawa was destined for history after shooting a 64 in the second round of The Open. His 131 strokes capped the lowest opening 36-hole total in a debut at the oldest championship in golf. Entering the final round one stroke back of Louis Oosthuizen, Morikawa maintained his streak of 31-consecutive holes without a bogey, carding a 66 (-4) on Sunday to win The Open by two strokes.
“Collin really makes us all so proud,” Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men’s Golf Walter Chun said. “He has put in so much time and has made many sacrifices to get where he is today. Cal has so much to be thankful for as he represents our university so well. Go Bears!”
The 2019 Graduate from the Haas School of Business has now joined Tiger Woods as one of only two players to win the Open Championship and the PGA Championship before turning 25. Furthermore, he is the first player ever to win two different majors in his first attempt and he is the first player since Bobby Jones in 1926 to win two majors in eight or fewer starts. Morikawa’s 15-under 265 is a 72-hole record score at the Sandwich links.
Morikawa’s victory was his fifth on the PGA Tour which is the most by any Cal alumnus. His first title came in his sixth professional start on the PGA Tour at the 2019 Barracuda Championship. He then won the Workday Charity Open in 2020 as well as the 2020 PGA Championship, the first major win of his career. This year, he has two victories, winning the WGC Workday Championship at the Concession and now The Open. The Golden Bears have a total of ten PGA Tour titles from four alumni with the others coming from James Hahn (2015 Northern Trust Open, 2016 Wells Fargo Championship), Michael Kim (2018 John Deere Classic) and Max Homa (2019 Wells Fargo Championship, 2021 Genesis Invitational).
Tokyo is the next stop for Morikawa who is one of four Americans competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He solidified his spot on Team USA after finishing tied for fourth at the 121st U.S. Open on June 20. At 24 years old, Morikawa is the youngest member of the team and Cal’s first men’s golf Olympian. The Olympic tournament will feature 72 holes at Kasumigaseki Country Club July 29-August 1. It will be just the second time that golf has been featured in the Olympics since 1904 as the sport returned in 2016 after a 112-year absence.
Morikawa played four seasons at Cal from 2015-19 and is the only four-time All-American and three-time first-team All-American in program history. He was also the Pac-12 Men’s Golf Player of the Year and won the conference title as a senior in 2018-19.