Morikawa Pays Huge Compliment To MacIntyre & Former Walker Cup Rival But Now Good Friend.

4 years ago by Comments Off on Morikawa Pays Huge Compliment To MacIntyre & Former Walker Cup Rival But Now Good Friend.

Major champ Collin Morikawa will be no doubt expecting event organisers to group him with former Walker Cup rival and now good friend, Robert MacIntyre for the opening two rounds of next month’s AIS Scottish Open.

Morikawa will be making a first visit to the UK in teeing-up at the July 8th commencing event at The Renaissance Club in East Lothian.

The pair of 24-year-olds were rivals at the 2017 Walker Cup in Los Angeles and with Morikawa the first on either the US or GB & I sides to win a major championship in capturing last year’s PGA Championship in San Francisco.

Three years earlier, Morikawa was unbeaten in his Walker Cup four matches and helped steer the US to a dominant 19-7 success over a GB & I that also contained Drumoig’s Connor Syme’

And while expecting to be grouped with MacIntyre in July, Morikawa spoke of his now friendship with Scotland’s top-ranked.

He said: “Bob is awesome.

“I’ve been really impressed by what Bob is doing and whenever you are paired, and not just the guys on my USA team but those guys on the GB & I team back then, you are always paying attention to what they are doing.

“You want them to all succeed as we are all trying to get out onto the PGA Tour to win tournaments, and to become number one in the world.

“But what Bob has been doing in that short amount of time since the Walker Cup has been awesome, and it’s good also to see him out competing in the Majors, the WGCs and everything.

“He’s a young guy I can connect with.  We have memories though I have better memories (smiling broadly) for my US team than theirs but it’s always going to be with us and be remembered from being on the 2017 Walker Cup teams”.

Surprisingly, it will be Morikawa’s first visit to the UK and as such also his maiden Open Championship a week later at Royal St. George’s.

He said:  “Playing the Scottish Open is going to be a huge warm-up for me heading into the Open Championship, as I’ve never played an Open Championship.

“I’ve been over playing golf in Ireland and France just once but not to Scotland or England, so I really haven’t played links golf.

“The only links golf I have really seen would have been as a junior when you might get a links-style course, so that’s why I also think the Scottish Open is going to be huge for my prep.

“Whether or not it plays similar or not but just to be over in the UK and to get adjusted to everything.

“So, I really look forward to it and I think the Scottish Open is going to be awesome.  It’s going to be a great field.

“And my appearance in the Scottish is not just to learn about how to play over there as I want to go out and win, and I will be doing my best to be prepared for both events”.



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