Open champion Collin Morikawa tries to drink in the history

The 24-year-old American is a double major champion after surging clear on the final day to win the Claret Jug at Royal St George’s

Collin Morikawa kisses the Claret Jug (PA Wire)

For Collin Morikawa the hardest part of a serene week was to let it all finally sink in.

The 24-year-old American is a double major champion after surging clear on the final day of The Open Championship at Royal St George's and never looking back on his way to a first Claret Jug.

Morikawa won the 2020 US PGA on just his second major start and is now the first player to win two different majors at their first attempt.

It was quite the week then after quite the first two years in the game.

As only the second person after Tiger Woods to win the Open and US PGA before the age of 25, it really does feel like the world is now at his feet.

"I think when you make history - and I'm 24 years old - it's hard to grasp, and it's hard to really take it in," he said after a closing 66 secured a two-shot win from fellow American Jordan Spieth.

"At 24 it's so hard to look back at the two short years that I have been a pro and see what I've done because I want more. I enjoy these moments and I love it and I want to teach myself to embrace it a little more.

"We've been staying at the hotel right by the course. Every night I see all the caddies drink, and I'm like 'Man, I really want to drink, but I hold back. I hold back on tournament week'.

"It's JJ's (caddie JJ Jakovac) birthday. I'm going to let him decide (what drink to put in the Claret Jug)."

It was a dominant week, one where the world number three put his peerless iron play on display as the famous old course was made to look very easy indeed at times.

He was unerringly long and straight off the tee while remaining nerveless on the greens too and it all ended - fittingly - with a faultless final round as overnight leader and leader for the first three rounds Louis Oosthuizen was again left to count the cost of another major that slipped through his fingers.

Spieth, who won the title himself in 2017, is impressed with what he saw over the four days.

"Winning one [major] can happen to a lot of people playing really good golf in one week, and winning two, he's proved that this stage is where he wants to be," he said.

"He's got the potential and the game, and the head, to be able to manage any kind of bumps in the road."

The 2020 US PGA was played out in front of empty galleries at Harding Park with coronavirus rules meaning there was no one around to celebrate his win.

Collin Morikawa celebrates on front of packed grandstands around the 18th green (PA Wire)

This time though tens of thousands packed into the sunny corner of Kent to watch as he tapped in from a couple of feet on the 18th.

"The nerves are definitely up there, but you channel these nerves into excitement and energy, and that puts you away from like a fear factor into 'This is something I want'," he added.

"I had nothing to prove. It's just to you guys (the media). I'm just answering it for you guys that we can play in front of fans.

"They are some of the best fans I've ever seen. They truly understand the game. They appreciate the game. We owe them a huge thank you."

So what now after joining the elite group of Gene Sarazen, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Spieth in winning multiple majors before the age of 25?

“I really need to sit down and talk to my coach on how to reassess the entire year,” he added. “I’m not going to throw everything into the trash and just say, ‘OK, we’re a completely different person’, but goals have to change. I didn’t do that last year and I think that’s why that first week back (after the US PGA) everything was kind of tail ending.

“I don’t want to do that this year. I want to finish on a strong note in the season, and I’m going to sit down, when things slow down hopefully, and try and embrace that and figure out what’s next.

“But to be cemented on the Claret Jug with countless names, countless Hall of Famers, countless people that I’ve looked up to, it’s so special.

“We only get four majors a year and every single one of them is very special. To finally get to play an Open Championship for the first time and win it, it’s going to be that much more special.

“I won the PGA and then coming back as the defending champ you just have a sense you belong, this is going to be part of you for the rest of your life. The Open Championship is going to be part of my life the rest of my life no matter what happens.

“To be a part of that history, it’s awesome. To hear Champion Golfer of the Year, (gives me) chills.”