The struggle story of Collin Morikawa has shown no sign of stopping. The two-time major champion has been among the top names, but since 2024, the golfer has struggled to increase his victory count. With six PGA Tour wins, he has been frustratingly close to the win with multiple runner-up finishes, yet still feels far away from it. Now, as his form tumbles even further, the golfer has also shared his feelings after his shocking team change.
Morikawa started the year with a runner-up finish at The Sentry and then recorded another at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. But as the season progressed, the 30-year-old’s performance started to drop. In fact, with his recent participation in the Open Championship, he was not even close to the title. After rounds of 75 and 74, he missed the cut.
Now, as he comes after a 15-day break, at the St Jude Championship, the golfer shared about the struggling experience at the major. In the pre-round press conference, the moderator asked him to share his feelings after the game. The question was, “How would you describe how you felt about your game leaving Northern Ireland, and what have you done the last two weeks to turn things around?”
To this, Morikawa said in the press conference, “It wasn’t good. You get very exposed out there, and you’re up in — not just in Europe but just over the past two months, the game — you can look at my stats all you want. It comes down to being able to hit my iron shots how I want.” The Open was his second consecutive missed cut. Most importantly, he was far off the cut line with his long list of 10 bogeys in just two rounds.
But with the learnings, he has utilized the time to assess and improve. Regarding that, he added, “It wasn’t good. I went back to the drawing board, had to figure it out, had to really look at it from another perspective and say, okay, I look at my swing, looks like this, how do I just get down to the nitty-gritty and say maybe I need to be in this position, maybe I need to look at some setup stuff. You just keep trial-and-error stuff.” Well, the analysis seems to be working for the golfer. Morikawa, who shared about trying to “survive” before the St. Jude Championship, has showcased a lot of improvement in play. He, after two rounds of play, recorded just one bogey, and on the sunny side, his scorecard had 8 birdies and an eagle, putting him second on the leaderboard.
But giving credit to the golfer for the improvement wouldn’t be enough, as his recent and most shocking change just before the event might be the reason.
Collin Morikawa made a fifth caddie change
With the knowledge of dropping performance, the golfer who started the season as runner-up took a bold yet effective decision. Since the beginning of the season, Collin Morikawa has been looking for the missing piece of the puzzle. He partnered with Joe Griener at the Zurich Classic, who is famous for his successful partnership with Max Homa. But unfortunately, the pairing between the two didn’t work out. He shared, “We gave it a shot, but it wasn’t the right fit.”
Later, he shook hands with Billy Foster, JJ Jakovac, and KK Limbhasut, who had been his long-term friends since college. Of them all, the bonding with Jakovac was the most successful as the pair celebrated five wins together and became the most respected duo. However, despite that, Morikawa’s statement, “But sometimes change is necessary, even when it’s hard,” cleared it all about his intention to change.
Now, as we are in the final phase of the season, the 30-year-old brought Mark Urbanek on his bag. The professional caddie in the past has worked with Tony Finau and has helped in multiple victories. With the extensive experience, Urbanek might be the key to his comeback performance, which is seemingly on its way at the FedEx Cup, St. Jude Championship.
What do you think has been the key to the golfer’s performance improvement? Is it the caddie or his analysis? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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