Fitness
Collin Morikawa Wins British Open; Joins Tiger Woods With Historic Achievement
Collin Morikawa won The Open Championship on Sunday, July 18, at Royal St. George’s in the South East of England, coming from behind to triumph by two shots at 15 under par. It was the ideal capper to a historic year for Morikawa, who’s now firmly one of golf’s biggest stars. It also revealed Morikawa as the biggest winner to come out of a rare, weird year in the sport.
When COVID-19 halted every sport in the spring of 2020, it created a once-in-a-lifetime scheduling fluke in the world of men’s professional golf. There are four majors every year, but the pandemic delayed three of last year’s and led to a one-year skipping of The Open. The result was an unprecedented stretch—that started in August 2020—of seven majors in 11 months. That included three delayed 2020 events and the typical slate of four for 2021. There had never been so much high-stakes golf packed so tightly together on the calendar.
In addition to generating lots of good television, the unusual calendar presented an opportunity for the world’s best players. For years, the two men who carried the sport’s public image for most of the 21st century—Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson—had been fading. Not that they couldn’t still win, as Woods demonstrated at the 2019 Masters and Mickelson recently showed at the 2021 PGA Championship, but they were preparing to pass the proverbial baton to a group of impressive, athletic young players who could hit the ball a mile and had already started to stack their own piles of major trophies, commercials, and endorsements. The “11 majors in seven months” schedule was a chance for any of those players to set himself apart. Stay at the top of your game for a year, and you might win a couple huge tournaments.
It turns out the player to do it is Morikawa. He won the first post-shutdown major, the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park, and he’s now bookended the slate with another win at Royal St. George’s. In the process, the 24-year-old Californian made all kinds of history, including becoming the first player to ever win his debut start at two different majors. He also demonstrated he’ll be a force every time he tees up for many years to come.
The Open has a way of humbling the world’s best golfers, but Morikawa beat it back.
The R&A, the British governing body that runs the tournament, has over the years perfected the art of making The Open into one of sports’ biggest pressure cookers. It’s been the site of some notable meltdowns in golf history. Perhaps the most notable was when Jean van de Velde blew a three-stroke lead on the 18th hole at Carnoustie in 1999. The Open can also be tricky for American players who aren’t used to Britain’s links style of golf, where the sea-side courses are subject to swirling winds and other difficult weather.
Morikawa was unbothered, especially as the week wore on. He bogeyed two of his first five holes in Saturday’s third round, then didn’t play another hole over par the rest of the weekend (a stretch of 31 holes). It had echoes of his 2020 PGA win, when he also played his last round bogey-free. But this week, it wasn’t as easy as Morikawa’s scorecard made it look. He hit 60.7 percent of Royal St. George’s fairways, just a shade above the field average of 58.4 percent. He had to play often out of the course’s waist-high hay rough. And he did so brilliantly, making enough recoveries to keep his score moving in the right direction.
He started Sunday in second place but quickly passed South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, who once again will have to deal with some near-miss heartbreak after a major. Once Morikawa had the lead, he held off one of the sport’s best major players, Jordan Spieth, who tied with Oosthuizen for second.
Morikawa might be the world’s best ball-striker. To win, he relied on being more than that.
Nobody plays their irons better than Morikawa. Over the last six months, he’s gained an average of 1.6 strokes on the field per round with his approach shots alone, according to analytics site DataGolf. Nobody else has been close to his numbers. And he hit some beautiful approaches at Royal St. George’s. But he also had some mis-hits and needed to save himself around the greens, where advanced stats say he is below average on the PGA Tour.
You wouldn’t know it by some of the shots and putts he pulled off this weekend. The iciest was an up-and-down on the 10th hole on Sunday, when Morikawa led by three but seemed in danger of dropping a shot (or two) to Spieth. Morikawa had other ideas. He knocked a touchy chip shot to 15 away from the hole, then made a tester of a putt to keep Spieth at arm’s length. He kept them there for the rest of his round.
“Everything about my stats say I’m not a good putter statistically,” Morikawa told reporters after his win. “I feel like I can get a lot better. But in these situations, I feel like everything is thrown off the table. Forget about all your stats.”
In the big moments, Morikawa executed. It was an all-time great putting performance.
Now, in a ridiculously good pack of young American golfers, Morikawa might be the leader.
At. No. 3 in the world overall Morikawa is not the best U.S. player overall just yet. (That’s Dustin Johnson, who fell just behind Spain’s Jon Rahm and is now the No. 2 player.) But Morikawa, at 24, has tied Johnson, 37, with two majors. Winning The Open moved Morikawa up from No. 4 in the world, past fellow American Justin Thomas.
Morikawa has more major wins than all but one of his 20- or early-30-something peers in the top 10 of the world ranking. (Brooks Koepka has four. Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, and Patrick Reed all have either zero or one.) Nobody is presently playing better.
The last 11 months have shown Morikawa can beat anyone. They’ve also shown he can do it on at least two continents, and on drastically different types of courses. He’ll be a critical player for the American Ryder Cup team this September, and likely every two years after that for the foreseeable future. Morikawa’s prodigious talent and ball-striking ability will ensure he always has a chance to contend, and his unflappability will give him a strong chance to deliver on all of his promise. What he just showed in England was a preview of more to come.
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The key to 360-degree muscle: 90-degree eccentric isometrics. It might seem like we’re throwing a lot of geometry at you, but the concept behind time under tension (TUT) is simple, says Joel Seedman, PhD, owner of Advanced Human Performance: “Perform the lowering phase of a movement in a slow, controlled fashion, usually 3 to 5 seconds; pause in the stretched position, typically around 90 degrees; then perform the lifting phase in a powerful yet controlled fashion.” Believe us, a time-under-tension workout can humble even seasoned lifters…Eccentric isometrics are like the pressure cooker of training.
“Rather than mindlessly performing slow-tempo reps, you’re using the increased time under tension as a means to fine-tune your body mechanics and alignment, which requires more mental engagement and focus,” Seedman adds.
If you want to forge functional muscle mass and strength while simultaneously bulletproofing the joints and connective tissue, give this 10-move, full-body eccentric isometrics workout a go.
Directions
Perform the following moves as 90-degree eccentric isometrics following the above protocol. Use heavy weight, but not at the detriment of proper form. Rest 60 to 90 seconds between sets and 2 minutes between circuits. Perform once every 2 to 4 days for optimal results.
Best Time-Under-Tension Workout for Total-Body Strength
Circuit 1
A. Barbell Back Squat
Set a squat rack up with heavy weight, then grasp bar and step under it. Squeeze shoulder blades together, then stand to unrack bar and step back with feet shoulder-width apart. Inhale, hinge at hips and slowly bend knees to 90 degrees. Pause, keeping natural arch in low back, then extend through hips to powerfully stand. 3 x 4-6 reps
B. Renegade Row
Start in the top position of a pushup with hands shoulder-width apart on moderate-to-heavy dumbbells (shown). Explosively drive right elbow back to row dumbbell toward ribs while balancing on opposite hand and feet. Pause, then slowly lower weight, stopping a few inches above floor. Switch sides after all reps are done. 3 x 5 reps each side
Circuit 2
A. Dumbbell Bentover Row
Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding two moderate-to-heavy dumbbells in front of thighs, palms facing you. Push hips back and hinge torso forward so it’s nearly parallel to floor, soft bend in knees. Dumbbells should be near shins. Drive elbows back to row weights toward ribs. Pause, then slowly lower down for 3 to 5 seconds. 3 x 4-5 reps
B. Incline Dumbbell Chest Press with Legs Raised
Set an adjustable bench to a 30- to 45-degree angle and lie back with dumbbells in either hand. Engage core and lift legs off floor, flexing feet. Press weights overhead, palms in. Slowly lower to 90 degrees, staying tight and compact. Pause, then drive weights up directly over chest. 3 x 4-5 reps
Circuit 3
A. Dumbbell Bulgarian Squat
Stand lunge-length in front of a flat bench, holding heavy dumbbells in each hand by your sides, palms facing in. Rest the ball on top (shoe’s laces) of your right foot behind you on the bench. Slowly lower your body until your front thigh is parallel to the floor. Pause, then drive through your heel to stand. Switch sides after all reps are complete. 2 x 3-4 reps each side
B. Single-leg Romanian Deadlift
Stand with feet hip-width apart holding dumbbells or kettlebells. Drive right leg up, foot flexed, knee aligned with hip, making a 90-degree angle. Hinge at hips as you slowly lever your torso toward floor, lowering weights and driving right leg back for counterbalance. Hold, then squeeze glutes to reverse. 2 x 3-4 reps each side
Circuit 4
A. Pullup
Hang from a pullup bar using an overhand grip with legs extended and feet flexed. Engage lats and draw shoulders down your back, then pull yourself up until chin is higher than hands. Pause at the top, then slowly lower. Pause at bottom, then reset before your next rep. 2-3 x 4-5 reps
B. Kneeling Overhead Barbell Press
Hold a bar with moderate-to-heavy load at shoulder level with forearms perpendicular to floor. Kneel at end of bench with feet flexed to grip edge for support. Inhale, engage your core and glutes, then press the bar overhead, pushing your head forward so it passes your face, exhaling at the top.
Slowly lower until elbows are at 90 degrees, then hold to maintain tension. Begin your next rep from here. 2-3 x 4-5 reps
Circuit 5
A. Dumbbell Pushup
Place hands on dumbbells (this provides greater range of motion) at shoulder width and feet wider than shoulder width with just toes touching the ground. Keep head neutral and hips high to increase tension on core, chest and tris and reduce stress on spine. Slowly lower to the floor. Stop
once elbows hit 90 degrees, pause, then push up to start. 1-2 x 6-8 reps
B. Biceps Curl
Stand with feet hip-width apart with moderate-to-heavy dumbbells in each hand hanging by sides. Engage biceps to curl the weights up, keeping upper arms still. Pause at the top, then lower slowly. Don’t let arms drop all the way down to keep greater time under tension on biceps. 1-2 x 6-8 reps
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