Beer.
That’s the first liquid Collin Morikawa poured into the Claret Jug after he won the British Open two weeks ago after adding the coveted hardware to his collection that includes the Wanamaker Trophy he captured at the 2020 PGA Championship.
“Couldn’t tell you what kind,” Morikawa said Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s start of the men’s golf competition in the Summer Games in Tokyo.
Champagne followed as Morikawa and his caddie, J.J. Jakovac, who was celebrating his birthday, put an adult beverage capper on the Sunday at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England. That’s where Morikawa took control of the 149th edition of the British Open and won his second major in just eight starts.
Has a hangover ensued after the celebration?
“Yes and no,” Morikawa said. “It’s tough, I think, in a sense, knowing that I played so well, and I thought I was playing well to re-assess and reset myself to come out here and be like, ‘OK, this is still golf.’ It doesn’t just flow over to the next day and I’m automatically going to start making birdies every single hole.
“And that’s what I did last time after I won on the PGA. I just figured, yeah, I’ll kind of walk into the (FedEx Cup) playoffs and just assume that good golf was going to go on. I think I learned that lesson the first time.
“I’ve kind of just reassessed myself, kind of taken a step back, and realized what I did was great, but we got so much more left of the season and such an important part of the season, that I want to play well.”
Morikawa is one of 60 players in the field at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Tokyo. He is joined there by U.S. teammates Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed.
Morikawa is one of the favorites, along with the three Americans, reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, Norway’s Viktor Hovland and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy of Ireland.
Morikawa flew to his Las Vegas home after winning the Open, the Claret Jug in tow as he journeyed through the Heathrow and Atlanta airports. He continued his celebration the first two days in Las Vegas and then relaxed for two days.
“I was talking with JT today and it’s like you go from the Open Championship to home for four days and then we’re all on a flight Saturday morning,” Morikawa said. “So, the turnaround time was a lot quicker than you would kind of want or expect but that’s just what we do. People don’t realize that’s what we do every week. Every single week is something new, and we’ve got to figure it out.”
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