First-time winner wants more
Morikawa eager to win again on PGA Tour
Collin Morikawa hasn’t had time to truly appreciate what he has done since turning pro this summer, nor has he been able to reflect, let alone fully celebrate, his life-altering victory in last weekend’s Barracuda Championship.
Instead, he’s focused on winning this week’s Wyndham Championship and has his eyes set on making a splash in the FedExCup Playoffs.
Others, however, have come to marvel at what the young kid from Cal has done in such a short time, and they realize what he could do in the long term.
After Morikawa’s victory Sunday in Reno, Nevada, in his sixth start as a pro, reigning U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, major champion Justin Thomas and star Jon Rahm were among the many who texted congratulations. With his victory, Morikawa joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win a PGA Tour title and a Pac-12 tournament in the same year. That’s heady company.
The victory also moved Morikawa, 22, to No. 46 in the FedExCup standings, and with the playoffs starting next week, he’s well within reach of being in the top 30 who make it to East Lake for the Tour Championship. He cracked the top 100 in the official world rankings, now standing at No. 90. He has won $1.67 million since graduating nearly two months ago.
He is fully exempt through the 2021 season and has starts in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Players Championship and the PGA Championship awaiting him in 2020.
But the four-time All-American isn’t looking past Thursday’s first round at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“For this week, it’s just I’ve got to reset, I’ve got to focus on what I need to do to play well at this course,” said Morikawa, who graduated from the prestigious Haas School of Business at Cal. “It’s all about just focusing on this week, and I can’t worry about the next couple of weeks.”
And to think, Morikawa nearly won his first Tour title three weeks prior to cracking his maiden. In the 3M Open the first week of July, Matthew Wolff became the youngest to win on the PGA Tour since Jordan Spieth when his eagle putt from off the green on the 72nd hole gave him a one-shot win over Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau. It was Wolff ’s third start as a pro.
Wolff, 20, joined Woods and Ben Crenshaw as the only players to win the NCAA individual title and a Tour title in the same year. And for the first time, two college players earned Tour cards in the same year without going through qualifying at Q-School or the Korn Ferry Tour finals.
Morikawa and Wolff headline the Class of 2019 along with Viktor Hovland, 21, who turned pro after he tied for 12th in the U.S. Open, where he broke Jack Nicklaus’ tournament record for the lowest 72-hole score by an amateur. Hovland, who also was the low am in the Masters, has made all four cuts since turning pro.
The three are playing this week. Morikawa and Wolff are grouped in the first two rounds with Adam Long, another rookie who won this year.
“We believe in ourselves,” said Morikawa, who at 5-9, 170 isn’t among the bomber set but clearly is one of the best ball-strikers in the game.
While it appears the three have conquered the learning curve on the PGA Tour, Morikawa is the first to tell you differently.
“I think there’s still a learning curve for us every single week. For us, every single week we’ve got to learn the ropes, we’ve got to figure out where everything is. It’s brand-new,” he said.
“When this year’s over, I’m going to be able to really look at it all, kind of put this whole season together. Obviously it’s going to be a lot of positives, but there are still going to be things I’m going to nitpick and focus on what I need to do for next year.”