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LOCAL Diamars 20 Juli 2021

Collin Morikawa a double major winner and looking for more

(AP) - In a year of firsts in made a 20-foot birdie on the moments and I love it, and I
the majors, Collin Mori- 14th when Spieth had closed want to teach myself to em-
kawa might have topped to within one. He saved par brace it a little more.”
them all. with a 10-foot putt on the
next hole for breathing room. The major season began with
His performance over four Hideki Matsuyama becom-
days at the British Open was “When you make history — ing the first Japanese player to
unlike anything seen at Royal and I’m 24 years old — it’s win the Masters. Phil Mick-
St. George’s, even in such hard to grasp,” Morikawa elson became the first player
ideal weather for the English said. at age 50 to win a major at
coast. The silver claret jug in his the PGA Championship. No
possession as he stood on one had ever birdied the last
In his first real test of links the 18th green, Morikawa two holes at the U.S. Open
golf, Morikawa didn’t make a first paid tribute to Matthias to win by one shot until Jon
bogey over his final 31 holes, Schmid of Germany, who Rahm at Torrey Pines.
blowing past mistake-prone won the silver medal as low
Louis Oosthuizen and never amateur. Morikawa played 20 tourna-
flinching as Jordan Spieth ments worldwide with no
made one last charge late “It feels like literally two barely dry on his diploma Jones nearly a century ago. spectators, and then only
Sunday afternoon. years ago I was an amateur,” from Cal. In the eight ma- limited spectators since
Morikawa told him. jors Morikawa has played “It’s so hard to look back at March. The British Open
Morikawa made three since then, he has won two the two short years that I had the largest gallery since
straight birdies at the turn That is entirely literal. of them. The last player to have been a pro and see what the return of golf from the
to build a four-shot lead. He Two years ago, the ink was win two professional majors I’ve done because I want COVID-19 pandemic.
in so few attempts was Bobby more,” he said. “I enjoy these
Japan girds for a surreal Olympics, and questions are plenty

down stadiums, vaccinated Japanese people warm to the Japanese TV, and rights hold-
super-athletes, and the le- visitors or become increas- ers like NBC will likely be
gions of reporters, IOC offi- ingly infuriated as they watch unified in their message: Just
cials, volunteers and handlers fully vaccinated guests enjoy getting through will be cast as
that make the Games go, will freedoms they haven’t ex- a triumph.
do their best to concentrate perienced since early 2020?
on sports served up to a rapt Will the Olympians and oth- Not many visiting journal-
and remote audience of bil- ers play by the rules meant to ists, however, will linger in
lions. protect the country they’re ICUs or chase down inter-
visiting? Will they bring views with angry residents
Since the pandemic canceled in variants that will spread who feel these Games were
the originally scheduled ver- through Japan? Will the ef- hoisted onto the nation so
sion in 2020, the Japanese fort to vanquish the corona- that the IOC could collect its
media have been obsessed virus be impeded? billions in TV money.
with the Games. Will they re-
ally happen? If so, what will One thing seems certain: More likely, there will be
they look like? And the end- These games will have far less plenty of made-for-TV im-
lessly fascinating — shock- of what the world has come ages of a tour-book version of
ing, really, to many here — to expect from the Olympics, Japan, one that mixes shots of
prospect of staging an Olym- with its attractive mixture of ancient history, tradition and
(AP) — After a yearlong current through it all: the in- pics during what can seem human competition at the natural beauty with a high-
delay and months of hand- escapable knowledge of the like a slow-motion national highest level amid celebra- tech, futuristic sensibility:
wringing that rippled suffering and sense of dis- disaster has permeated the tions and cultural exchanges Think of a sleek, silver bullet
across a pandemic-in- placement that COVID-19 society nearly as thoroughly on the sidelines by fans, ath- train, for instance, streaking
flected world, a Summer has ushered in, both here and as the virus. letes and local people. past a snow-capped Mount
Games unlike any other is around the world. Fuji. A reality, in other words,
at hand. It’s an Olympics, “The mindset that the Olym- Usually, the Olympics are a riddled with easy-to-digest
sure, but also, in a very All signs point to an utterly pics can be pushed through vibrant time — a two-week cliches and predictable estab-
real way, something quite surreal and atomized Games, by force and that everyone party for a host city eager to lishing shots.
different. one that will divide Japan into should obey the order has show the world its charms.
two worlds during the month invited this mess,” the Asahi They teem with tourists and As Tokyo grapples in com-
No foreign fans. No local of Olympics and Paralympics newspaper said in a recent all the fun that an exotic lo- ing weeks with the intrinsic
attendance in Tokyo-area competition. editorial. IOC and Japanese cale and interesting visitors oddness of these pandemic
venues. A reluctant popu- officials “should learn that can bring. This go-round. Olympics, the disconnect
lace navigating a surge of vi- On one side, most of Japan’s their absurdity has deepened though, will be strictly cho- between sports and sickness,
rus cases amid a still-limited largely unvaccinated, in- the public distrust in the reographed for TV, with the rhetoric and reality, visitor
vaccination campaign. Ath- creasingly resentful populace Olympics.” skeptical people of Japan and local will be hard to miss
letes and their entourages will continue soldiering on largely isolated as yet anoth- for many here.
confined to a quasi-bubble, through the worst pandemic Of course, it’s too early to er state of emergency places
under threat of deportation. to hit the globe in a century, predict what, exactly, will more constraints on their Just how a reluctant Japan
Government minders and almost entirely separated happen when these cross- daily lives. will weather a high-risk ex-
monitoring apps trying — from the spectacle of the To- currents converge during the periment that might come
in theory, at least — to track kyo Games aside from what Games, as about 15,000 ath- The story that foreign visitors to define the coronavirus
visitors’ every move. Alcohol they see on TV. Illness and letes and, by some estimates, focus on for these Games will pandemic in future years,
curtailed or banned. Cul- recovery, work and play, both nearly 70,000 officials, media also be very different from however, must wait until the
tural exchanges, the kind that curtailed by strict virus re- and other participants insert the reality on the nation’s visitors pack up and go home.
power the on-the-ground strictions: Life, such as it is, themselves into the flow of streets. Only then will the true price
energy of most Games, com- will go on here. Tokyo life in sequestered and that the host nation must
pletely absent. limited, yet ubiquitous, ways. Barring catastrophe, the IOC, pay for these Surreal Games
Meanwhile, in massive (and local newspapers (many of come into focus.
And running like an electric massively expensive) locked- Will the normally hospitable which are also sponsors),