Morikawa not focused on Masters lore as he tries to create some
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The weight of history packed into every inch of Augusta National can be overwhelming. There isn’t a tee box, a fairway, a bunker, a thatch of pine straw or a putting surface where the greats haven’t walked. Where iconic shots haven’t been made. Where green jackets haven’t been won. Or lost.
Collin Morikawa appreciates the lore. Acknowledges it. And is well aware of the impact it can have on your game.
“You show up for your first time and that’s what happens with a lot of people,” Morikawa said, who will be playing in his third Masters. “They are like, ‘Oh man, this happened here. This happened here.’“
Yet the 25-year-old, twotime major champion doesn’t get hung up on it. Walking onto the 18th green at the end of a practice round Monday, caddie J.J. Jakovac asked Morikawa if he wanted to recreate Mark O’Meara’s dramatic birdie that captured the 1998 Masters.
To which Morikawa had just one question.
“What putt? I had no clue which putt (O’Meara) had to win the Masters,” Morikawa said with a laugh. “So he drops the ball, and he’s like, ‘Oh, I thought you would have known.’ I was like, ‘No, I have zero clue.’“
It’s not disrespect. It’s more of a choice. He loves the game. He’s simply intent on not letting it consume him. That’s just not how he’s wired.
“If I want to have a long career .. if golf is 24/7 and I go study everything and watch everything and remember everything, that’s just not how my head works,” he said.
There are moments cemented in his memory, particularly watching Tiger Woods’ emotional victory in 2019. Morikawa joined his Cal teammates at an off-campus house a few of them shared, stuffed as many couches as they could together then sat transfixed as Woods captured his fifth title.