Tiger Woods missed the cut at The Open, and here is how it happened

SANDWICH, England – Collin Morikawa has a chance to become the first player to win two separate major championships on debut after a scintillating 6-under 64 in the second round of The 149th Open. Morikawa surged to nine under 131 through 36 holes, a record for Opens at Royal St. George’s and one off the all-time Open record of 130. He was three shots clear of the pack after the morning wave with the likes of Louis Oosthuizen (-6) and Jordan Spieth (-5) yet to start. The 2020 PGA Championship winner is playing his first Open Championship and looks to emulate Ben Curtis – the last player to win an Open on debut – which coincidentally happened at Royal St. George’s in 2003. Willie Park Sr (1860), Tom Kidd (1873), Mungo Park (1874), Jock Hutchison (1921), Denny Shute (1933), Ben Hogan (1953), Tony Lema (1964) and Tom Watson (1975) are the only players pre Curtis to all win The Open on debut. But no one has ever won two of golf’s four majors in their first attempt. “We have four of them a year, and you’re trying to definitely win these four because they’re that big,” Morikawa said of the majors. “Sometimes you have those days where you’re very fortunate to have good numbers, and today was one of those days.” Morikawa opened the round with a birdie and had added three more at the turn to set up his special round. Further birdies at 11, 12 and 14 had the California kid at seven under on the day and on track to equal the course record 63 or perhaps better Branden Grace’s all-time major championship low 62. But a leaked drive on the 15th resulted in a missed green from the left rough and he was unable to get it up and down to save par. Morikawa then had a chance at 63 via an eight-foot attempt for birdie on the 18th only to see it slide by. “I had no clue what any course record was. I don’t know any of those numbers. Now I do know. But I was just trying to make a lot of birdies,” Morikawa said. And besides. He was more proud of some of his par saves, including a great one on the 13th after a drive into a pot bunker. “Out here in links golf you’re going to hit bad shots. You’re going to hit bad approach shots, bad tee shots. To see the par save on 13 I’m really going to draw on that for the rest of the week because sometimes you have to just bite your tongue, play safe, and try and make par best you can. Sometimes bogey is going to be your friend,” he said. Bad shots were rare on Friday for the 24-year-old. For most of the round it was a ball-striking clinic, incredible considering his first real foray into links golf was at last week’s Scottish Open and he’d changed some of his scoring irons in the lead up to the tournament. The changes came directly from what he learned after his T71 result in Scotland. “I wouldn’t be here through these two rounds if I hadn’t played last week at the Scottish. I’ve played in firm conditions… I can think of places I’ve played in tighter, drier conditions, but just having fescue fairways and the ball sitting a little different was huge to see last week,” Morikawa explained. “I changed my irons, my 9 through 7-iron that I normally have blades in. I changed to the (TaylorMade) P7MC’s strictly because I couldn’t find the center of the face. I was sitting these iron shots last week that I just normally don’t and my swing felt good, but it was a huge learning opportunity. “This style of golf is very different, but last week helped tremendously.” Changing irons wasn’t the only adjustment for the cerebral Morikawa. While he putts with a saw grip from close range he was adjusting to a conventional grip for longer putts. Anything outside around 30-feet saw him change it up. “Mentally it felt that much better. Even though I didn’t know how I was going to perform, you just have to go out and feel confident with what you’re doing.”

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LA QUINTA, Calif. – Jon Rahm will need another final-round comeback if he wants to win the Desert Classic for a second consecutive year. Rahm shot 68 at PGA West’s Stadium Course on Saturday. At 16-under 196 (66-66-68), he is six shots behind 54-hole leader Phil Mickelson. Rahm made eight birdies Saturday but also had two bogeys. “It was good,� Rahm said. “I would say it was a B, B-plus. … The first five holes is what cost me, going 1 over par on those holes, hitting it pretty good. It was the one part of the course that if I had shot 1 or 2 under like you can, it would have been a great round.� Rahm started his round with four consecutive pars before hitting his second shot on the par-5 fifth hole into the water and making bogey. He birdied his next two holes, though. The Stadium Course will host the Desert Classic’s final round Sunday. Large swings are possible on the water-lined fairways of the Pete Dye design, but Mickelson has just one over-par hole thus far this week. He made double-bogey in the second round after hitting his approach into the water on the Nicklaus Tournament Course’s 18th hole. Mickelson shot a bogey-free 66 at the Stadium Course on Saturday. “I’m going to need to play really well and I’m going to need the leaders to have a slow start, but anything can happen,� said Rahm, who’s 69th in the FedExCup standings. Southern California has been the site of Rahm’s two TOUR wins. He overcame a final-round deficit in each win, as well. Rahm was three behind when he started the final round of the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open. He won by three shots after shooting a 65 that included eagles on Torrey Pines’ two back-nine par-5s. He was two back after the first three rounds of last year’s Desert Classic. He shot 67 on Sunday, then beat Andrew Landry in a playoff.

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