How Open champ Collin Morikawa celebrated with the claret jug, before Olympics

KAWAGOE, Japan – It was a tight turnaround for Collin Morikawa and the other athletes who competed two weeks ago at The Open before heading to Japan for this week’s Olympics, but the Champion Golfer of the Year did make the most of that time.

Morikawa said he and caddie J.J. Jakovic celebrated Sunday night in England before catching a flight the next morning back to the United States.

“We had some beers poured in [to the claret jug]. Couldn’t tell you what kind. We were at the hotel and it was J.J.’s birthday, so we had a bunch of beers poured in there and had an amazing time,” Morikawa said Tuesday. “We’ve had champagne out of it, so it’s been a couple days of great celebrating.”

Like the other members of Team USA, Morikawa only had a few days at home before heading to Japan for this week’s Olympics and he said the challenge now is “resetting” himself for the rest of the season.

“It doesn’t just flow over to the next day and I’m automatically going to start making birdies every single hole. That’s what I did last time after I won on the PGA,” he said. “I learned that lesson the first time. So hopefully I’ve kind of just reassessed myself, kind of taken a step back, and realized what I did was great, but we got so much more left of the season.”