Despite lead, Oosthuizen fails to ‘go one better’

Collin Morikawa’s superb play over the opening two days of The 149th Open Championship has come after the American made some equipment adjustments heading into this week. The 24-year-old, who shot 67-64 in the opening two rounds at Royal St. George’s, swapped out three key irons before Thursday’s opening round. Morikawa switched from his TaylorMade P730 irons to the brand’s P7MC model in his 7-iron through 9-iron, a decision made after finding the P7MCs aided his turf interaction and provided a more centered ball strike, as well as a touch more forgiveness. “I changed my irons, my 9- through 7-iron that I normally have blades in. I changed to the MCs strictly because I couldn’t find the center of the face,” said Morikawa following his second round. “Those are three crucial clubs that are some of my favorite clubs. My 8-iron is my favorite club in the bag, and when I wasn’t able to hit it (well) last week well, I knew I had to try something different.” Last week’s Scottish Open was Morikawa’s first experience on the links. He finished T71. The Californian also added a new TaylorMade MG2 Hi-Toe (60 degree) wedge while also making a weight adjustment to his TP Juno putter. As is often the case on the slower greens across the pond, Morikawa was finding it difficult to get the ball to the hole at last week’s Scottish Open. To help his speed on the slow greens at Royal St. George’s, Morikawa decided to remove the two 2.5-gram weights and replace them with two 7.5-gram weights, providing him with 10 grams more weight in his putter. As well as the weight adjustment to his putter, Morikawa has even altered his stroke on certain putts this week. A proponent of the saw grip, Morikawa was struggling with his speed on lengthier putts on the links greens last week, so he is now putting with a conventional style on longer putts while using his saw grip for the shorter efforts. “It’s a feel thing, but it’s more I couldn’t get the tempo on the saw grip. I think the saw grip is amazing for me. But from outside 25, 30 feet, I just couldn’t get that hit. I couldn’t get that tempo that you see like a Brandt Snedeker puts on his putts,” said Morikawa. “That is something you need out here because the greens are slower than what we’re used to playing. “Just switching to conventional, I didn’t have to change anything mentally. I just kind of went at it like I normally felt, and kind of matched the speeds.” It’s a strategy that has worked wonders for Morikawa this week, who has looked dialled in on the greens as he goes in search of his second major victory.

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Cameron Smith made his record-tying 10th birdie of the round on the 17th hole, helping power his one-shot victory at The Players Championship on Monday.

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Winner – PGA/U.S. Open Championship Jason Day Rory McIlroy Webb Simpson Jordan Spieth Winner – THE PLAYERS Championship Si Woo Kim Winner – The Masters Bubba Watson Winner – British Open Zach Johnson Winner – World Golf Championship Event Russell Knox Patrick Reed Winners of the Arnold Palmer Inv. & the Memorial (Last 3 Years) Matt Every Marc Leishman David Lingmerth William McGirt Winner – FedExCup – Last Five Seasons Brandt Snedeker Tournament Winner in Past Two Seasons Daniel Berger Jonas Blixt Keegan Bradley Wesley Bryan Alex Cejka Greg Chalmers Tony Finau Jim Furyk Fabian Gomez Cody Gribble Emiliano Grillo Adam Hadwin Brian Harman Padraig Harrington J.J. Henry Jim Herman Charley Hoffman Mackenzie Hughes Billy Hurley III Smylie Kaufman Danny Lee Hunter Mahan Peter Malnati Troy Merritt Rod Pampling Scott Piercy Brendan Steele Robert Streb Brian Stuard Hudson Swafford Vaughn Taylor Nick Taylor Justin Thomas Jhonattan Vegas Career Money Exemption Geoff Ogilvy Carl Pettersson Sponsors Exemptions – Members not otherwise exempt Stuart Appleby Mark Wilson Sponsors Exemptions – Unrestricted Wyndham Clark Brett Coletta Beau Hossler Ryan Ruffels PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Billy Downes Past Champion of Respective Event Ken Duke Kevin Streelman Life Member Vijay Singh Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedExCup Points List Paul Casey Kevin Na Jason Kokrak Ryan Palmer Harris English Jamie Lovemark David Hearn Luke Donald Kyle Reifers Daniel Summerhays Ricky Barnes Chad Campbell Patrick Rodgers Harold Varner III Martin Laird Johnson Wagner Chez Reavie Patton Kizzire Bryce Molder K.J. Choi Spencer Levin John Huh Sung Kang Jason Bohn Tyrone Van Aswegen Derek Fathauer Lucas Glover Brett Stegmaier Robert Garrigus Zac Blair Andrew Loupe Boo Weekley Mark Hubbard Kyle Stanley Ben Crane Michael Kim Anirban Lahiri Graham DeLaet Shawn Stefani Seung-Yul Noh Top 125 on Prior Season’s Official Money List thru Wyndham Bud Cauley Retief Goosen Chad Collins Morgan Hoffmann Top 125 (Prior Season Nonmember) Byeong Hun An Major Medical Extension Nick Watney Brian Gay Bob Estes Troy Kelly Charlie Beljan John Peterson Leading Money Winner from Web.com Tour & Web.com Tour Finals Grayson Murray Top 10 and Ties from the Previous Event Whee Kim Steve Wheatcroft Dominic Bozzelli Top Finishers from Web.com Tour Prior Season (reordered) Kelly Kraft Kevin Tway Cheng Tsung Pan J.T. Poston Ryan Blaum Michael Thompson Scott Stallings Brandon Hagy Xander Schauffele Cameron Percy Seamus Power Trey Mullinax Bryson DeChambeau Martin Flores Julian Etulain Tim Wilkinson Richy Werenski Andres Gonzales Jonathan Randolph Ryan Brehm Joel Dahmen Tag Ridings Gonzalo Fdez-Castano Rory Sabbatini Steven Alker Nicholas Lindheim Will MacKenzie Mark Anderson Ryan Armour Brett Drewitt Brian Campbell Miguel Angel Carballo Sebastian Munoz Brad Fritsch Zack Sucher

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