Photo by Bruce Kluckhorn, USA Today
Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Ready to Re-Boot PGA Season at Schwab Challenge
Collin Morikawa’s professional golf career was going great but only about nine months old when it was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, after a three-month hiatus, the 23-year-old former Cal star will tee it up again beginning Thursday at the $7.5 million Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Morikawa hopes to regain the momentum that allowed him to earn $2.84 million since his PGA debut last June. He has been every bit as good as advertised, placing 35th at the U.S. Open in his first major and landing six top-10 finishes, including a victory at the Barracuda Championship last July.
He tied for ninth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, his final tournament before the coronavirus slammed the door on all sports.
Morikawa ranked 45th on the PGA money list when the season stopped and has a scoring average of 70.223, with 12 eagles in 2020.
The world’s top golfers will play at the Charles Schwab Challenge, led by Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Jordan Speith.
The event will come with some new wrinkles. Players were tested for COVID-19 prior to being allowed to play practice rounds. Hand sanitizer stations are located at each hole and players will be reminded to stay six feet from one another.
Golfers will pull their own clubs from their bags and conversations with caddies will not be conducted as intimately.
And, there will be no fans at the Colonial Country Club as the PGA plans to stage its first five tournaments without spectators.
Morikawa is part of the new generation of budding PGA stars, along with former Oklahoma State teammates Matthew Wolff and Norwegian Viktor Hovland, who tied for 12th at the 2019 U.S. Open.
"We just believed in ourselves from day one," Morikawa said in an interview with ESPN.com. "I think each one of us has a strong team around us, and each one of us has built a strong foundation to start off with and having the people to back us.
“From there, we think our games are ready. We think our games are the best to compete, win and do it multiple times out on the stage. We proved in college that we could do it, and I think we were all prepared.”
Morikawa talked about how he’s proud of the consistency he’s shown early in his career. He has yet to miss a cut in 21 outings, leaving him just four tournaments from matching Tiger Woods' record to start a career.
But Morikawa also stressed simply getting to the weekend cannot his goal.
"For me, that's the kind of player I wanted to be I wanted to be a very consistent player that's able to contend,” he said. “I haven't been to that point yet. When you look at players like Rory (McIlroy) and Tiger in his prime, they're contending every single week, not just making cuts.
"That mentality for me has to change. It's not about making cuts, it's about trying to win.”
Two other former Cal golfers, Max Homa and Byeong-Hun An, also will play at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Homa has three top-10 finishes this season while Byeong-Hun has landed in the top 10 five times.
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
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