Collin Morikawa: “Not afraid of any course.”
Collin Morikawa allowed himself to smile Monday when he walked over the crest of the hill on No. 11 at Augusta National. Suddenly, he had one of golf’s coolest views: the pond, the green and famed No. 12, a short par3 over Rae’s Creek, in the distance.
Morikawa, ever businesslike, briefly savored the panorama and then resumed his preparations for this week’s Masters.
He’s one of three players with Northern California ties making his tournament debut. Morikawa and Max Homa are Cal alums, and Cameron Champ grew up in Sacramento.
Morikawa could have taken an advance scouting trip to Augusta, but he decided to wait until tournament week. So Monday’s practice round with Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood marked Morikawa’s maiden journey around the course.
“Every course I’ve pretty much played over the past year and a half, I’ve never seen,” he said in his pretournament news conference, referring to his 17 months as a pro. “Some courses fit your eyes better than others. If it doesn’t, then you have to figure out a game plan to play good golf.
“I’m not afraid of any course out here.”
Worth noting: Morikawa, 23, played at Harding Park several times during his college years in Berkeley. Then, in August, he won the PGA Championship at Harding for his first major title.
Champ, 25, also was in the mix at the PGA — he played alongside Morikawa in the final round, posted evenpar 70 and tied for 10th. Morikawa shot 64 to emerge from a logjam of contenders.
Champ hadn’t played especially well since that day at Harding Park, until his tie for eighth Oct. 25 at the Zozo Championship. Champ, who qualified for the Masters by winning the Safeway Open in
Napa in September 2019, counts as one of the PGA Tour’s longest hitters, which should serve him well at Augusta National.
Homa, 29, earned his Masters invitation by winning the tour event in Charlotte, N. C., in May 2019. He had to wait 18 months to make his Augusta debut because this year’s tournament was postponed from April to November because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As usual, Homa — whose wit and sense of humor has attracted more than 177,000 Twitter followers — took it all in stride. He tweeted Monday of his coronavirus test: “Getting ur nose violated by a stick first thing in the morning is a lot more tolerable knowing it means u can play in The Masters that week.”