British heads open to end furious with tight stars at the top

[ad_1]

SANDWICH, England – Colin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth had a lot in common, with the third round of the British Open on Saturday ending with a gentle breeze and golden light early in the evening more associated with Augusta National than at the English seaside.

Morikawa and Spieth are American golf stars in their twenties, who have proven their ability to win a major tournament. Both are still chasing Louis Oosthuizen, a South African moderate who is still in the lead but barely in charge of the discipline with only one round to play at the Royal St.

Oosthuizen is 12 under average. Morikawa, who was paired with him on Saturday, is one in 11 under. Spieth is third in ninth under.

But even though Morikawa and Spieth are in a similar situation, they ended their tours in a completely different mood.

While Spieth stunned the last two openings, hitting him with two feet on the 18th, Morikawa held steady on the stretch after a shaky start, repeatedly putting himself in promising places with his sparkling iron play.

While Spieth walked after he was 69, refusing to speak with the huddled reporters, Morikawa patiently and methodically made his scheduled rounds after 68. Tented with a tent, he spoke with the primary broadcasters of the Open Championship and then, folded his arms, walked to the fence where, in this pandemic, kept The rest of the news media has a long microphone length.

“Sometimes you just need to find that momentum,” he said of the afternoon. “I hope you find it in the first hole, but sometimes it takes a few holes, and you just have to dig deep and fight through it.”

As usual, the 24-year-old Morikawa spoke like a veteran, but he is still a newcomer to the British Open and has a chance of becoming the first man to win the tournament on his debut since American Ben Curtis won at Royal St. George in 2003.

After playing Oosthuizen for the first time on Saturday, Morikawa will return in the final with him on Sunday with the claret pitcher on the line.

Does Morikawa see it as a head-to-head duel?

“This cycle can produce low scores,” he said. “We’ve already seen it. So I’m not going to count anyone. I’m not going to look at it as head-on. I want to go out and try to pick as many holes as possible and see what happens. I can only control myself. The truth. I hope to do my best and play really well.”

Other quality players stay within walking distance. John Ram, the bearded Spaniard who won the US Open in Torrey Pines last month, is leading the way by five shots at sub-zero seven and has always had a penchant for links golf. Cory Conners of Canada and Scottie Scheffler of the United States came fourth, eight years below.

But Oosthuizen and Morikawa will be side by side again on Sunday. Both aim to win a second major, and Oosthuizen, 38, has been aiming for a little longer.

Morikawa won the PGA Championship in 2020, just over a year after finishing his undergraduate career at the University of California, Berkeley.

Oosthuizen won the British Open in 2010 at St Andrews, the famous Scottish golf course that connects to many. Oosthuizen, who has missed out on seven of his first eight majors and was 54th in the world, led by five shots in the second round and surprisingly held out for a seven-stroke win.

It was an amazing performance, and he remains one of the world’s best and smoothest golfers, finishing second in the tournament six times at the major tournaments. Now he’s back in close range after a tie for second at this year’s PGA Championship and second at this year’s US Open.

The mental obstacle still remains, and one has to wonder if it is a mental obstacle at this point.

“You know, being second isn’t cool, so tomorrow I’ll have my heart out,” said Oosthuizen. “I think we’re all just human beings to think about lifting the cup, and that will be on your mind. But I think you just need to know that and how to deal with it. Once we get on the golf course, it’s all golf.

He played with great determination on Saturday, starting the tour with a two-shot lead over Morikawa and keeping at least a share of it throughout the tour despite Spieth’s early gains.

Oosthuizen was at 13-under after 10 holes but then missed par-3 11 and par-4 13 and could only come out evenly on par-5 14, which felt like another shot that fell considering how weak the 14 was. To the sparrows throughout the tour.

He was at that point in a three-way tie with Spieth and Morikawa at 11 under level and looked like he was heading for more trouble when he hit a shot on the 15th in the five-iron coarse. But he was able to recover and make a 15-foot shot to save the par and then move up to Birdie’s Class 3 game to finish 16th and finish the round in a more convincing fashion.

Oosthuizen said he should have hit 6 irons instead of 5 irons over 15.

“It was the wrong club,” Oosthuizen said. I hate making wrong decisions. I don’t mind taking bad shots, but bad decisions are something I have control over. I was a little upset there but I got myself together quickly and made a great flip.”

Spieth did a lot of good scrambling as well on Saturday as he played with Dylan Fritelli, a South African who was once Spieth’s teammate at the University of Texas.

Frequently elicit improvised solutions from deep, harsh and awkward situations. He had a great rhythm early in the round as well as a hot paddle, making sparrows at 2, 4, 6, 7 and 10 to get to 12 under before backing off, closing his eyes in pain after failing to drill his short holes. 18.

The bright side is that he is back in contention at the British Open, winning the most famous British Open – rain and high winds – at Royal Birkdale in 2017.

It was Spieth’s third major tournament, and after a long slack, he re-swinged and regained his confidence at age 27.

On Sunday, as the sun rises in the forecast, the pressure will rise again.

Morikawa was asked if it was about who cracks his nerves first.

“I would just say he’s ready for a moment,” he said. “This is an opportunity for me to get out and hopefully get a great result and play really great golf in a major tournament, which is something I’ve never played before, so that’s what’s exciting.

Oosthuizen has the most experience among the top three on the leaderboard but also the most scar tissue.

“He went through it many times,” Morikawa said of the pressures of the final round. “I’ve been through it, I think myself, enough. So it’s not a crack. He’s going to take this opportunity.”

[ad_2]