Collin Morikawa wins the PGA and Rahm regains number 1

His name is Collin Morikawa, he is 23 years old and in the PGA Championship, the first major that has been played this week, he was only making his second foray between the Grand Slam tournaments. The young American did not care about his lack of experience, not even that it was the most even major in remembrance in a long time, with a platoon of golfers opting for the title until the final sprint (up to six in -10 with few holes remaining) . Morikawa, a television smile, a precocious talent and nerves of steel, won the PGA this Sunday with 13 under par, by -11 from Paul Casey and Dustin Johnson, and -10 from Matthew Wolff, Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau and Scottie Scheffler. Jon Rahm finished thirteenth with a great end of the day (four birdiesin the last nine holes) and regained the world number one he had lost last week to Justin Thomas.

Every time a little genius appears, the memory returns to the impossible comparisons with Tiger Woods. Also in the case of Morikawa, born in 1997, the year the Tiger won the Masters of the Revolution. It had taken only 29 tournaments on the circuit to conquer Augusta, the same number of championships that Morikawa has played to be crowned in a great. The new winner has another surprising statistic that relates him to Tiger: he made the cut in the first 22 professional tournaments he played, for the 25 that Woods linked in his day.

Morikawa had only played another big one before, last year's US Open in which he was 35th. Getting to the PGA and fighting like he did is the mark of champions. In the 14th he achieved a birdie from off the green that placed him in the front row. And the finishing touch was an eagle on par four on 16 (he reached the starting green with the driver and then kicked) that left everyone with their mouths open and with the conviction that there was a winner. What was heading towards a massive tiebreaker was resolved with a coup of authority.

Tiger was 37th, at -1, climbing positions on the last day. Like Rahm, in progression with laps of 70, 69, 68 and 66 strokes. The Basque returned to number one after Justin Thomas fell to 37th place, like Tiger. "If I go back to number one, fine, and if not, I'll have more options," Rahm said after his journey, still not sure if he would regain the throne. “What has failed me is to make a putt. The goal is to learn and know that next time I have to start better ”, explained Rahm, 13th in his fourth participation in this great: 54th in 2017, fourth in 2018 and out of the cut in 2019.

Also as a symbol of that equality that was reflected throughout the PGA Championship, the number one in the world ranking still does not have a fixed owner (and in fact it has not had an indisputable dominator since the heyday of Tiger Woods). If Jon Rahm succeeded Rory McIlroy at the head of the table and the crown lasted two weeks, until he handed it over to winner Justin Thomas after the WGC in Memphis, the American gave it back to Rahm in San Francisco. With the entire golf season altered by the pandemic, and the calendar turned upside down, it is difficult to venture forecasts about who will dominate not only in the rankings, but in the big ones. In each tournament, the cabals and complex calculations take place to find out how the classification will awaken on Monday.

Once the PGA is resolved, the next major of the course will be the US Open, from September 17 to 20, while this atypical course will close in terms of the greats with the Augusta Masters from November 12 to 15. With the British Open off the calendar (same as the Ryder Cup, postponed to 2021), the options to hunt a larger game are reduced.