2022 British Open: Can Colin Morikawa repeat his victory?
The Open Championship is wide open this year, with a number of golfers in the running to win it. Collin Morikawa is fighting to retain his title against the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The fourth major of this year’s golf season has arrived, with the 150th edition of the British Open (or the Open Championship as it is officially known) taking place this week in Scotland. The world’s best golfers have a new chance to win the oldest major and a cut of this year’s improved $14 million purse, as the Old Course St Andrews, golf’s oldest course, hosts the Open for a record 30th time. Almost 20 past Open winners will take part in this year’s tournament, with Collin Morikawa the most recent Claret Jug holder.
Follow the final day of the 150th Open Championship live from St Andrews
A full field at the Open Championship
As with all major tournaments, all the top golfers will be attending the 2022 British Open if given the chance. That’s the scenario this year even with the ongoing PGA Tour against LIV Golf war still disrupting most tournaments fields, since the Open Championship organizer, R&A, had its Chief Executive Martin Slumbers state that “Players who are exempt or have earned a place through qualifying for The 150th Open in accordance with the entry terms and conditions will be able to compete in the Championship at St Andrews’'. This means that players who have defected to the LIV circuit, such as Dustin Johnson or Bryson DeChambeau, will be allowed to tee up. Another Open winner, 2013 champion Phil Mickelson, who is also the oldest player to ever win a major with his 2021 PGA Championship, will also be able to play one more major after being one of the first golfers to leave the PGA circuit this year.
Collin Morikawa’s chance to get the Claret Jug back
The British Open champion gets to keep the original Claret Jug, formally known as the Golf Champion Trophy, until the next edition of the tournament, when they have to return it to be given a replica that they can keep forever. That is the process that current champion Collin Morikawa has just gone through this week, which lead him to say that “it sucked, the replica isn’t the same, it will never be”. When the now 25 year old won the Open in his tournament debut, just after winning his first major in the PGA Championship the previous season, he did not know what the future would hold for him, or how he would arrive at St Andrews this year.
“I am looking for something, I really haven’t been in contention at all this year in any tournament, and it sucks because I love being in those spots” said Morikawa. He missed the cut at the Scottish Open last week, and dropped from fourth to eighth in the world ranking, just a month after completing two good rounds at the US Open before floundering in the crucial ones. Morikawa will try to regain his best golf at one of the most difficult courses in the world, all while having to deal with the pressure of being the champion and not having delivered in a season in which two of the three other majors were conquered by first time winners in Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Collin Morikawa has been having a subpar season in almost every facet of his game, having gone from first in the PGA circuit at tee-to-green strokes last season to just 24th this year, landing him at 26th in total strokes gained over the season. “But I’m here to win a tournament. I’m going to do everything I can, just as in any other tournament I’ve played well in or won” concluded the American.
The candidates for the Open
Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irishman 2013 champion, is the odds-on favorite given his amazing play and improved putting over the last few months, which has put him 8th in the circuit at that stat after being ranked 66th last season, which will be crucial in the difficult greens of St Andrews.
Alongside him are American number one in the world golfer Scottie Scheffler, current Masters champion, and Spaniard Jon Rahm, ranked just below McIlroy at number three. Neither are playing their best golf lately, but remain at the top of golf’s hierarchy thanks to their “tee-to-green” success, being ranked 7th and 6th respectively. Xander Schauffele, who just won the Scottish Open this last Sunday, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth are among the names who experts see as having better chances to win the tournament than Morikawa.