Collin Morikawa Has a Poor First Round at The Open

Former Cal golfer Collin Morikawa got off to a disappointing start in the chilly, windy and rainy weather at The Open Championship on Thursday.

After carding a first-round score of 4-over-par 75 at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Portrush, Northern Ireland, Morikawa faces a significant challenge to win the third major title of his career. In fact, he will need a strong round on Friday just to make the cut.

---Story has been updated with first round now complete.---

The top 70 golfers and ties will advance to Saturday’s third round, and Morikawa finds himself tied for 115th after one round.

He will begin the second round eight strokes back, as five golfers – only one of which is American -- finished their rounds with scores of 4-under-par 67.

Those five leaders are Harris English of the United States, Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark, Haotong Li of China, Christiaan Bezuidinhout of South Africa and Matt Fitzpatrick of England. Harris is the highest ranked player among the leaders at No. 19.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the world and the pretournament favorite, put himself in good position with a 3-under-par 68. He is tied with three other golfers, just one stroke off the lead.

Three other former Cal golfers are also in the field at The Open Championship.

Former Golden Bear Byeong Hun An had even more trouble than Morikawa, coming up with bogeys on Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to finish with a 5-over-par score of 76, nine shots behind the leaders.

Michael Kim had the best round of the four ex-Cal golfers, getting a birdie on the last hole to finish , with a 3-over-par score of 74, seven strokes off the lead.

Cal alumnus Sampson Zheng, who qualified for The Open by finishing as the runner-up at the final qualifying event in Liverpool, England, earlier this month, carded a 6-over-par 77 in the opening round of The Open, so he will need a strong round on Friday to make the cut.

Morikawa, who is ranked No. 6 in the world, was expected to be among the challengers for The Open title, but he has put himself in a difficult position. He missed the cut at the Scottish Open last week in the tuneup to The Open, and apparenlty has not yet solved his problems this week.

Morikawa won The Open Championship in 2021 for his second major title, to go along with his victory at the 2020 PGA Championship. But he missed the cut at The Open the next two years and finished tied for 16th last year.

He has six PGA Toiur wins but none since the Zozo Championship in October 2023.

His trouble on Thursday started with the first hole, which he bogeyed. He also finished his round with a bogey, giving him five bogeys to go along with his lone birdie on the sixth hole.

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