Collin Morikawa rises to top of The Open Championship leaderboard with second-round 64

Collin Morikawa, in his Open Championship debut, tops The Open Championship leaderboard after shooting a second-round 64 thanks to a superb display of iron play.

If you woke up early on Friday to catch Collin Morikawa tee off at 3:25 a.m. ET to begin his second round of The Open Championship, you got to see him nearly have the round of his life.

On Thursday, after Morikawa finished off his first round at The Open with a 67, he called links golf a learning process. Golfers who primarily play in the United States don’t often see the kind of shot-making and imagination it takes to succeed across the Atlantic. Morikawa certainly hadn’t; he never played links golf in his professional career before the Scottish Open last week.

If mastering this style of golf was a classroom exercise, then Morikawa got a straight-A on Friday. He shot a six-under 64, his birdie putt on the 18th hole for the Royal St George’s course record lipping out of the cup, to finish at nine-under for the tournament and take a three-shot lead in the clubhouse in his Open Championship debut.

Put an iron in Morikawa’s hands in a fairway, and there is no one better in the golf world right now. His smooth swing, slowly taking the club back, is unmatched. He’s been so dominant in Strokes Gained: Approach this season that his margin over second place is bigger than second and 50th. In the ShotLink era, only one player has ever had as good a season with his approach shots as Morikawa: Tiger Woods in 2013, 2007 and 2006.

In his second round, he hit irons within 10 feet on the first, fifth, ninth, 12th and 14th; he birdied all of them. He was seven-under on his round through 14 holes before suffering his only bogey at the 15th. He stayed aggressive, firing at the pins, and couldn’t miss. Morikawa is hitting 78 percent of the greens in regulation through two rounds. The rest of the field is averaging below 65 percent.

Experience in Scotland paying dividends for Morikawa at The Open Championship

Morikawa may have finished 71st in Scotland last week, but his experience there led him to the top of The Open leaderboard. He didn’t like how his irons felt in the fescue fairways of links courses and couldn’t find the center of the club, so he changed them for The Open. He didn’t have good speed on the greens, so he switched his putting style, going back to a more conventional grip on long putts instead of the saw grip he usually uses.

“I wouldn’t be here through two rounds if I hadn’t played last week at the Scottish,” he said on Friday following his round. “It was a huge learning opportunity. I wanted to win, but I came out of it learning a lot more, and hopefully, it helped for this week.”

Morikawa is still only a 24-year-old who turned professional two years ago, but he’s already proven he’s a player who brings his best game to the major championships. He’s finished in the top-10 in three of his seven majors, including the last two. He would like nothing more than to add the Claret Jug to the Wanamaker Trophy he won at the PGA Championship last August. But, before he can do that, he’s just focusing on the memories he’s making along the way, not paying any attention to the history he nearly made on Friday.

“I did not know 63 was the low out here. I just kind of came out and played golf,” he said. “For me, hopefully, we can just create memories and create lifetime memories. Hopefully, Sunday comes along and we can talk again.”

This tournament and this style of golf are brand new to him. It can take years for a player to acclimate to playing links. For Morikawa, at least for the last two days, he’s looked like he’s been playing it his entire life. That learning process he talked about? He’s mastered it in just two weeks.