Open Match

By Mark Halpern

The Open Championship was held at Royal St George last week, and it was full of top players. If you read my blog, I had picked John Rahm to win it. Looking where he finished at 3rd place was a good standing but, his first round was atrocious. He shot 71 1 over par on the first round, which brought into question what was wrong. The OpenChampionchip was the time for other golfers to set the bar. Rahm did come back the next three rounds, shooting a 64 6under par his second round, a 69 two under par the third round, and a 66 f under par final round good enough for him to secure third. That terrible first-round caused him the chance to contend for first. He was my pick to win it.

Collin Morikawa won the open, finishing with 15 under par to win the open. He had plenty of challenges throughout the weekend, but his consistent accuracy on the fairways and his short game was too hard for others to contend with. He is an exceptionally talented young golfer and tied a record with Tiger Woods with making his last 22 cuts in a row. At 24 years old, he is well on his way to having an insane career and will challenge most PGA events in the years to come.

One golfer who kept on Morikawa’s heels was Jordan Spieth, who started with fire and had a quiet but uneventful third round which kept him in reaching distance of Morikawa but, the final round Spieth who also one of my picks, could not pass Morikawa and finished in second at 13 under for the match. The other golfer who was in contention throughout the match was Louis Oosthuizen. He was in first after the first round in the first round and was at the top of the leader board several times, but his final round of 1 over par had him fall shot and drop to third. Hats off to him and his fantastic play.

Bryson Dechambeau had parted with his caddy the week before and has not been himself since. Pardon my language. He shit the bed in this tournament. The Open Championship is a Major where he should have won and was the favorite to do so. However, he was not the only one who did not show up. Poor Phil Mickelson finished 14 over par and missed the cut. He was predicted to place but, I figured he would have made the cut.
Honorable mentions go out to Brooks Koepka, McKenzie Hughes, and Dylan Frittelli for playing consistent rounds and challenging the leaderboard. In my opinion, Rahm got rammed in that first round and cost him any chance of challenging Morikawa. I am incredibly happy for Morikawa and cannot wait to see Morikawa play more over the next few months, and that is how the old man sees it.