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The 24-year-old picked up four birdies on his opening nine holes
and his putter remained hot as he sank birdies on the 11th and
12th to move to nine-under, three strokes better than overnight
leader Louis Oosthuizen who was out later in the day.
Light winds and pleasant sunshine greeted Saturday's early
starters and Morikawa took no time in making hay.
The 2020 PGA champion birdied the first and salvaged par on the
fourth after a wayward tee shot then picked up another birdie on
the fifth after a superb approach shot.
He drilled a 25-footer at the eighth to move level with
Oosthuizen before another birdie on nine took the Open debutant
clear at the top of the leaderboard.
There was no stopping Morikawa as he left himself a 30-footer
for birdie on the par-three 11th and confidently dispatched it.
Oosthuizen's fellow South African Daniel van Tonder also made
the most of the benign conditions as he posted a four-under 66
to move alongside the former champion.
He sank a birdie on the 18th to take the clubhouse lead.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, seeking a first major since
2014, was given a huge ovation from the galleries as he strode
to the first tee hoping to start climbing the leaderboard after
his battling level-par 70 on Thursday.
But bogey fives on the first and second holes stopped him in his
tracks before a birdie on the fourth left him one-over for the
tournament and with lots of work to do.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
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