At the halfway point of the 2022 United States Open, Collin Morikawa of the United States is 36 holes away from winning a major for the third straight year. But the 2020 PGA Championship winner and 2021 British Open champion has company at the top of the leaderboard. That is because Morikawa, the 25-year-old native of Los Angeles, is tied for the lead at -5 with fellow American Joel Dahmen, a 34-year-old native of Clarkston, Washington.
Dahmen only has one PGA Tour victory to his name. That is the 2021 Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic, where Dahmen defeated Rafael Campos of Puerto Rico and American Sam Ryder by a single stroke. As we approach round three, it is the seventh ranked player in the world (Morikawa) who has the exact same best score as the 130th ranked player (Dahmen).
After round one, Dahmen was only one stroke back of the leader, Canadian Adam Hadwin, while Morikawa was three strokes back at -1. Then in round two, Morikawa had the exact same score as Hadwin had in round one. He put together a round of four-under-par 66, which not only put him tied for first, but it was also the lowest round among all golfers in round two.
There are 15 golfers either in the lead or within three strokes of the lead. Among the 13 golfers trying to catch Dahmen and Morikawa are three big names–Spain’s Jon Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, (-4) four-time major champion Rory McIlroy (-4), and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, who also happens to be the world number one (-3). It is shaping up to be an exciting weekend in Brookline indeed.
