If it was easy for Morikawa’s opening round to go unnoticed, the same certainly could not be said for his efforts on day two.

Having teed off at 8:25am trailing Oosthuizen by three, the 24-year-old sensationally stormed clear at the top of the leaderboard as he followed birdies at the first and fifth with four further gains in the space of five holes from the eighth.

When Morikawa picked up his seventh shot of the day on the 14th, he was 10 under for the Championship and only needed four pars to match the Royal St George’s course record.

Although he then bogeyed the 15th before parring in, he still held a three-shot lead by the time he reached the clubhouse and could be hugely satisfied with his position.

To his immense credit, Oosthuizen regained top spot in the afternoon, following his first-day 64 with a similarly brilliant 65 to set a record low aggregate for The Open through 36 holes.

Visit www.TheOpen.com for the greatest stories in golf

Keep in touch with us!
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/The-Open-Championship/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheOpen
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theopen/
To LICENSE The Open footage, please contact IMG REPLAY ▶ https://bit.ly/306V7dI