Golf | Morikawa makes the charge into British Open lead
The Hindu
Collin Morikawa showed no sign of inexperience as he surged into the lead on his British Open debut with a nine-under after a 64 in the second round at Royal St. George’s on Friday.The American is mak
Collin Morikawa showed no sign of inexperience as he surged into the lead on his British Open debut with a nine-under after a 64 in the second round at Royal St. George’s on Friday. The American is making his first appearance at the Open and played for the first time on British soil last week at the Scottish Open where he finished in a tie for 71st. “I wouldn't be here through these two rounds if I hadn’t played last week at the Scottish,” said Morikawa. “It was a huge learning opportunity. I went into last week wanting to win but I came out of it learning a lot more and that is helping me this week.”He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.
Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.
The other men’s semifinal Friday is Norway’s Casper Ruud, twice the runner-up in Paris — to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023 — against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open, an Olympic gold medalist and into the final four at Roland Garros for the fourth consecutive year.