Tommy Morrison made history this Saturday in Denmark. The young 19-year-old golfer has become the first player from the United States to win the European Amateur Championship Individual, which was held on the The Scandinavian course, north of Copenhagen. In addition to a prestigious title, the second of a high level that he achieves in his career, Morrison wins the qualification for the Open Championship at Royal Troon. Double prize.
They live in Dallas and belong to the University of Texas. He is known as Tommy Gun Morrison or Big T. The explanation is very simple. He is over two meters tall and his main quality, but not the only one, is his shot. He goes very long, although he always remembers in interviews that Bryson DeChambeau won his first US Open at Winged Foot thanks to his short game and putting. This comment is from a player with a well-furnished head. A good test of his shot was the eagle he made this Saturday in the last round of the tournament at hole 3, a par 4.
Morrison ranks 38th in the world amateur ranking. He has had two good seasons in Texas and has signed some good results, a lot of top 10, a lot of round under par, consistency, although he lacked victories. Not anymore. Interestingly, a couple of years ago he played the United States Fourball Amateur Championship paired with Tony Romo, former NFL player. And it is that Morrison’s family was never very golfing, but they were tremendously sporty. His father played basketball and his grandfather was a professional baseball player. Before dedicating himself body and soul to golf, Morrison tried practically all the sports that exist.
Morrison won the European Championship in the playoff against Irishman Max Kennedy and his compatriot Preston Summerhays. He signed two birdies in a playoff played at three holes. The three finished with a total accumulated of nine under par. To reach this figure, both Morrison and Kennedy handed in the best card of the day: 67 strokes. The victory in the playoff allowed Tommy to remove the bad taste in his mouth that the final bogey had left him at 18, a par 5. With a par he would have won the tournament without needing to go to the playoff. He also demonstrated a good ability to recover by recovering from a blow of this magnitude.
As for the Spaniards, Josele Ballester (-5) has completed a great final round of 68 strokes and has finished in eighth position. It was the third best round of the day, with four birdies, an eagle (also on a par 4, showing his shot) and two bogeys. The final bogey at 18, par 5, was especially painful. Had he made a birdie he would have finished with -7, in fourth position. In any case, he signed an outstanding title defense. Next Tuesday he will play the preliminary of the Open Championship.
On the other hand, Josep María Serra was twelfth with a final round also of 68 strokes, three under par in total, Luis Masaveu (-1) finished in 16th place with last round of 71 strokes, Jaime Montojo (+1) had a bad last round with 75 strokes and finished among the top 30, the same as Albert Boneta (+1), with a final card of 72 strokes. Further back were Pablo Alperi and Pablo Ereño.
