Congratulations to Collin Morikawa for winning the 149th Open Championship at Royal St George's and earning the title of Champion Golfer of the Year! It happened this past Sunday, July 18, 2021. Paired with 2010 Open Champion, Louis Oosthuizen, in the final group in both the 3rd and 4th rounds, Morikawa executed under the highest pressure. He had no bogeys in his final 31 holes - the 3rd longest bogey-free streak to end a major by a champion - and he had zero three-putts for the entire tournament. It was Morikawa's Open debut and he won, just like how he won in his PGA Championship debut last year: https://www.yelp.com/biz/2020-pga-championship-san-francisco. He's already a two-time major winner at age 24. Morikawa shot a final round 66 (-4) and finished with a total score of 265 (-15), holding off three-time major winner Jordan Spieth (age 27) by two strokes.
The 2021 edition of the Open, also known as the British Open, was an interesting one. First, it was the first Open to be held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the 2020 Open. The last time the Open hadn't been held was 1945 during the end of World War II. To date, only World War I, World War II, and COVID-19 have caused the championship to be cancelled.
Second, because of the ongoing pandemic, several strict protocols were put in place. One example is the players had to travel with smaller parties. Brooks Koepka traveled in a party of four. I believe four was the maximum travel party size. Koepka didn't bring his personal chef who normally travels with him to every event. If I recall correctly from Koepka's pre-tournament press conference, he told the media that those among his group included his "physio" and his agent. He and his agent were left to do the cooking.
On the Monday before the tournament began, ESPN golf writer Bob Harig reported, "For various reasons, several related to COVID-19 testing and travel protocols, 16 players either opted out or withdrawn from The Open." Source: https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/31806183/2015-champion-zach-johnson-tests-positive-covid-19-open. That same day, Des Bieler of The Washington Post reported that seven of the top 75 players in the world rankings had dropped out of The Open. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/11/bubba-watson-hideki-matsuyama-british-open/. I heard on Golf Channel seven was the most ever from the top 75 to not play in an Open Championship.
Among those not in the field this year were reigning 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, 2007 Masters and 2015 Open champion Zach Johnson, and 2012 and 2014 Masters champion Bubba Watson. Matsuyama and Johnson tested positive for COVID. Watson, who is vaccinated, did not. However, one of his close contacts tested positive and, following "UK policy," Watson announced on social media he would not compete at The Open this year: https://www.instagram.com/p/CRMBJCaL9Ti/. The UK has stricter guidelines when it comes to COVID than the US so it was an adjustment for the American players.
That said, 32,000 fans were still allowed onto the grounds at Royal St George's on each day of the tournament. According to sportscaster Dan Hicks, who called The Open for NBC in the US, 32,000 was a reduced-capacity crowd.
As for NBC, like the US Open last month at Torrey Pines, the network provided wall-to-wall coverage of the British Open this month. Again, coverage was spread among Peacock (streaming only), Golf Channel, and NBC. As always, I thought NBC and Golf Channel did a fantastic job in all facets: on-air talent, viewing angles / production, audio, graphics, and analytics. This was the first tournament where I noticed the bounce point of a player's drive shown in a graphic. Audio-wise, during the final round, I enjoyed listening to Morikawa strategize with his caddie, J.J. Jakovac, and Spieth talking to his caddie, Michael Greller. During his victory speech, Morikawa wished Jakovac a happy 39th birthday. The crowd in the stands surrounding the 18th green ended up singing an impromptu happy birthday song to Jakovac.
Like everyone else involved in this year's Open, even NBC had to deal with a reduced traveling crew. Only a handful of Golf Channel folks such as Notah Begay, Jim "Bones" Mackay, and Todd Lewis were on-site at Royal St George's. Most of the tournament action was called by Hicks and color analyst Paul Azinger from a studio in Connecticut. For more on that, see this Golf.com article by editor James Colgan: https://golf.com/news/nbc-unprecedented-challenges-british-open/. read more