SAN FRANCISCO • Collin Morikawa displayed nerves of steel in the final round of the PGA Championship on Sunday, fending off a slew of big names to grab his first Major and ensure he will no longer fly under the radar.

In only his second career Major start, the 23-year-old was a model of precision at TPC Harding Park where he finally pulled away from a tight leaderboard with a remarkable drive that set up a late eagle.

"In the strokes-gained era, this is the first time a player has ever led in fairways hit, proximity to the hole and strokes-gained putting," said Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee.

"You put all that together and it's just not fair that somebody after 29 events on the PGA Tour has all of those skills and has their whole career in front of them."

The American, who last month picked up his second career PGA Tour win at the Workday Charity Open in Muirfield, was not on anyone's radar at the year's first Major until firing a five-under 65 in the third round that left him two shots back of the leader.

In the final round, he delivered the drive of his life at the par-four 16th, which led to an eagle that all but clinched the Wanamaker Trophy and cemented his place among the cast of young standouts in the golfing world.

"There's a maturity there that at 23, it shouldn't exist," former British Open champion Justin Leonard said of Morikawa.

"The skill set that he has is a little different than what we see in a modern young player."

Morikawa, who was 65th in the rankings at the end of last year, shot up seven places to world No. 5 after his win, is eager to relish the spotlight, though, he is anything but complacent after the biggest win of his career.

"When I woke up (on Sunday), I was like, this is meant to be. This is where I feel very comfortable. This is where I want to be, and I'm not scared from it," he said. "It doesn't stop here. I've got a very good taste of what this is like, what a Major championship is like."

Since turning pro in May of last year, his PGA Tour record has been stunning - with three wins, two seconds, four other top-10s and only one missed cut in 27 pro events.

Only 15-time Major champion Tiger Woods boasts a better record than Morikawa's 22 straight weekends played to start his career.

Yet golf is littered with hype trains who have fizzled out. In 2017, Justin Spieth, days just shy of his 24th birthday, was on the cusp of a career Grand Slam, after winning the Open Championship, leaving him one Major short of the feat.

He had won both the Masters and the US Open two years earlier, and seemed set for a long stay at world No. 1. On Sunday, he finished 71st out of the 79 players who made the cut at Harding Park and having failed to win on the Tour since his Open triumph, his stock has fallen quite dramatically - to No. 60.

Even Rory McIlroy, who until the coronavirus stoppage in March was the most in-form player on the Tour, is starting to wonder whether the magic has gone after his five-year Major drought was prolonged, saying "maybe I'm not as good as I was".

But Morikawa's caddie, J. J. Jakovac, believes he is cut from a different cloth. "All my caddie friends say the same thing," he said. "They're like, I just cannot get over how mature your guy is. He's like an old soul or something."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS