Collin Morikawa

Collin Morikawa (born February 6, 1997 in Los Angeles, USA) is a professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the European Tour.

He began his PGA Tour career with 22 consecutive cuts, surpassed only by Tiger Woods' 25-cut streak. Morikawa has five PGA Tour victories - including two major championships, the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship - and won both in his debut.

Top-ranked amateur

In May 2018, Morikawa led the World Amateur Golf Rankings for three weeks as the top-ranked golfer. He also became the first American to win the Race to Dubai on the European Tour.

Morikawa played collegiate golf at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2015 to 2019, winning five times, including the 2019 Pac-12 Conference Championship. Aside from his collegiate victories, he won the Western Junior, Trans-Mississippi Amateur, Sunnehanna Amateur and Northeast Amateur.

Arnold Palmer Cup Player.

He played on the winning Arnold Palmer Cup team in 2017 and 2018, the winning Walker Cup team in 2017 and the Eisenhower Trophy team that finished second in 2018. In May 2018, he was the top-ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Rankings for three weeks. Morikawa made his professional debut at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open, where he finished 14th.

On July 7, Morikawa finished second at the 3M Open. On July 14, he finished 4th at the John Deere Classic. With that, Morikawa secured PGA Tour membership for the 2019-20 season. Two weeks later, Morikawa won his first PGA Tour event at the Barracuda Championship - beating Troy Merritt by three points.

First tournament after Covid break

On June 14, Morikawa shared the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge lead with Daniel Berger after 72 holes. This was the first PGA Tour tournament played after a three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Morikawa missed a short par putt on the first playoff hole and lost to Daniel Berger.

On June 26, 2020, Morikawa missed his first cut on the PGA Tour at the Travelers Championship, ending a streak of 22 consecutive cuts, the second-longest streak to start a professional career after Tiger Woods' 25.

On July 12, Morikawa beat Justin Thomas in a playoff to win his second PGA Tour title at the Workday Charity Open. The victory was the first non-alternate PGA Tour win for him. Morikawa erased a three-stroke deficit with three holes remaining and made a 25-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to stay in play before winning with a par on the third playoff hole.

Victorious in second major start

Morikawa won the 2020 PGA Championship on Aug. 9, victorious in only his second major championship start at a major. His final round of 64 produced the lowest final-round score by a PGA champion. With his victory at age 23, Morikawa became the third-youngest golfer to win the PGA Championship.

On Feb. 28, Morikawa won the 2021 WGC Workday Championship at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida. Morikawa won by three strokes over Billy Horschel, Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka. On July 18, Morikawa won the 2021 Open Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club in Kent, England. He won by two strokes over Jordan Spieth.

Two majors wins in eight starts

Morikawa became the first player since Bobby Jones in 1926 to win two majors in eight or fewer starts. He also became the first player to win two different majors in his debut appearance.

In August, Morikawa finished 3rd in the Olympics. In September, Morikawa played on the U.S. team in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. The U.S. team won 19-9 and Morikawa went 3-0-1, including a tie in his singles match Sunday against Viktor Hovland.

First U.S. winner at Race to Dubai.

In November, he won the DP World Tour Championship to end the European Tour season in Dubai. He also became the first American to win the Race to Dubai.In February, Morikawa played a final-round 65 at the Genesis Invitational to finish second, two strokes behind Joaquin Niemann.

Collin was born in Los Angeles, California, to Debbie and Blaine Morikawa and is of Chinese-Japanese descent. He graduated from La Cañada High School in La Cañada Flintridge, California, in Los Angeles County. Morikawa graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2019 with a degree in business administration. In December 2021, Morikawa became engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Katherine Zhu. They married on November 26, 2022.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Previous article in the series: Matt Fitzpatrick

Next article in the series: Viktor Hovland