Collin Morikawa

At 24, he won his second major championship adding the 2021 British Open to his 2020 PGA Championship. He became the seventh player since 1900 to win The Open in his tournament debut, but a record that may never be matched is Morikawa becoming the only player to win two majors in their first start.
Morikawa got started at a very young age, playing the Chevy Chase course, a 9-hole course comprising ten greens and 36 tees just north of Los Angeles. At age 5, he took his first golf lessons at a mini-junior camp at Scholl Canyon in Glendale. From age 8 through high school, Morikawa met with Rick Sessinghaus weekly, an instructor with a sports psychology doctorate. That got Morikawa thinking more about the mental part of the game at an early age. He was a great junior player in Southern California, and his breakthrough moment came when he won the 2013 Western Junior in Indianapolis.
Morikawa had to choose which college to attend. It came down to UCLA, USC, Stanford, and Cal. It wasn't easy, especially since his mother went to USC, but Collin chose Cal, mainly because it had one of the top five business schools in the country, along with a top collegiate golf program.
Morikawa established himself as one of the top collegiate golfers during his time at the University of California. He was a two-time Ben Hogan Award finalist and Cal's only four-time All-American and only three-time first-team All-American in program history. But the accomplishment he is most proud of was graduating from the Haas School of Business in four years.
Morikawa enjoyed a decorated career at Cal, where he was 2018-2019 Pac-12 Men's Golfer of the Year, a two-time All-Nicklaus Team recipient, and Cal's all-time stroke average leader (69.78). He had five victories and 22 top-5 finishes in his career at Cal in 48 events. Morikawa finished in the top 20 in each of his last 25 events and had streaks of 10 consecutive finishes in the top seven and 16 straight top-10s. He won the 2019 Pac-12 Conference title and finished T-6th in the 2019 NCAA Championships at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.
Morikawa was named AmateurGolf.com's Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017. He played in four U.S. Amateur championships, including a finish in the round of 16 in 2017. Morikawa had a perfect 4-0 record at the 2017 Walker Cup and led the U.S. to a 19-7 victory over Great Britain & Ireland.
Things could have been totally different in 2016 when he nearly won as an amateur after getting a spot in the Air Capital Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour. The Wichita, Kansas event saw Morikawa shoot rounds of 67-70-63-63 for a 17-under-par 263 total to tie Ollie Schniederjans and J.J. Spaun and force a playoff, which Schniederjans won on the second playoff hole. Years later, it always stuck in Collin's mind: What could have happened if he had won? For his last three years of college, agents contacted him with what he could have earned if he turned pro, but Morikawa stuck to the plan to get his business degree. He did make his PGA Tour debut as an amateur at the 2016 Safeway Open, where he missed the cut.
In 2018, he represented Team USA at the World Amateur Team Championship in Ireland, where he helped the Americans to a second-place finish in a 72-team field and was T-8th individually. He also represented the United States at the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup, where he won three of his four matches to help Team USA to a 38.5-21.5 victory over Team International. At the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational, he competed as an amateur and finished T-64th. Morikawa did have one college dream, and that was to help Cal to a national championship. The Bears' only men's golf championship was in 2004, but that dream was unfulfilled, which Morikawa doesn't feel bad about since he tried his best. In his last month as a senior in 2019, he got himself ready to turn professional, writing letters to tournaments looking for sponsor exemptions.
He carded a 5-under 137 at the Columbus, Ohio, sectional qualifier to earn a spot in his first U.S. Open.
After graduating from Cal in late May, Morikawa turned professional and got a sponsor exemption for the RBC Canadian Open. In his professional debut, he finished T-14th, shooting 67 in the final round. He finished T-35th at the U.S. Open and T-36th at the Travelers. Then he hit his stride. At the 3M Open, he finished T-2nd, a stroke behind winner Matthew Wolff, who eagled the 72nd hole. The following week, he was T-4th at the John Deere Classic, four strokes behind winner Dylan Frittelli. At the Barracuda Championship, his sixth PGA Tour event as a professional and his eighth career PGA Tour event, he won in the Modified Stableford System by three points as he birdied four of his last five holes. With the win, he earned membership onto the PGA Tour and also got into the FedExCup race. In the playoffs, he finished T-52nd at the Northern Trust and T-48th at the BMW Championship. He played nine PGA Tour events, making nine cuts with three top-10s, and was 59th in the FedExCup standings.
2020 Notes: In his first full season on the PGA Tour, Morikawa played in 21 tournaments, making 19 cuts with seven top-10 finishes. He was 6th in the FedExCup standings. In his first start of the season, he finished T-10th at the Safeway Open. Was T-7th at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and T-9th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. After the break, he finished 2nd at the Charles Schwab Challenge, missing a three-footer for par on the first playoff hole and losing to Daniel Berger. He got into another playoff at the Workday Charity Open, where he defeated Justin Thomas on the third playoff hole to win in his 26th start. He became the first player since Tiger Woods in 1996 to win twice before missing two cuts as a professional. A month later, Morikawa won again, capturing his first major championship title at the PGA Championship. Thanks to an eagle when he drove the par-4 16th hole, Morikawa won by two strokes over Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey. It was only his second start in a major, and at the age of 23 years, 6 months, and 3 days old became the fourth player since WWII to win the PGA Championship before turning 24, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy. Going a step further, since 1970, Morikawa joined a list of six that won a major at age 23 or younger: Jerry Pate, Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth. Morikawa became the first player to record a closing 36-hole score of 129 or better in any major. His final-round 64 joined Steve Elkington's 64 in the final round in 1995 as the lowest final round by a PGA Championship winner. Morikawa became the ninth player to win the PGA Championship in his tournament debut, and since 1970 became the third to win a major in two or fewer starts (others: Ben Curtis/first start 2003 British Open and Keegan Bradley/first start 2011 PGA Championship). In the FedExCup playoffs, he missed the cut at the Northern Trust, was T-20th at the BMW Championship, and 6th at the Tour Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 23 PGA Tour events making 19 cuts with eight top-ten finishes. He was 26th in the FedExCup standings. After missing the cut at the September U.S. Open and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, he finished T-12th at the CJ Cup @ Shadow Creek. He was a shot back of the lead at the Sentry Tournament of Champions going into the final round, shot 71 to finish T-7th. Shot a final-round 64 to finish T-7th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He won the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession by three shots, earning his fourth PGA Tour title and first in a World Golf Championships event. He became the second player to win a WGC and a major championship before turning 25, joining Tiger Woods. He became the seventh player since World War II to win four PGA Tour titles, including a major championship, before turning 25. He opened with rounds of 65-68-67 to play in the final group with Stewart Cink at the RBC Heritage. A closing-round 72 left him seven shots back of Cink and T-7th in the tournament. He lost to Patrick Cantlay in a playoff at the Memorial, falling to 1-2 for his career in playoffs. It marked his third career runner-up on the PGA Tour and sixth top-10 of the season. Finished T-4th at the U.S. Open, four shots back of winner Jon Rahm. At the British Open at Royal St. George, he got off to an excellent start opening with rounds of 67-64-68 to go into the final round a shot back of Louis Oosthuizen. Morikawa shot a final-round 66 to beat Jordan Spieth by two shots and Oosthuizen by four. One of the keys to Morikawa's victory was playing his last 31 holes bogey-free, playing those holes in 8 under. Morikawa played the week with only four bogeys, the lowest of any Open champion since Tiger Woods had three in his 2000 victory. Morikawa also became the eighth player since 1920 to win multiple majors before turning 25 and the first since Jordan Spieth in 2015. He represented the United States at the Olympic Games in Japan and was one of seven players in a playoff for a bronze medal but was beaten on the fourth hole of a playoff when C.T. Pan beat him with a par (Morikawa finished T-4th). Entered the FedExCup playoffs leading but missed the cut at the Northern Trust, was T-63rd at the BMW Championship, then T-26th at the Tour Championship. He played in his first Ryder Cup and finished with a 3-0-1 record to help Team USA win at Whistling Straits. Morikawa was teamed with Dustin Johnson in three matches, and they won all three. In the singles, Morikawa halved his match with Viktor Hovland. Morikawa joined the European Tour after the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship, so he led the Race to Dubai after his British Open win. He decided to play in the European season-ending DP World Tour Championship. So to make 2021 an even more sensational season, Morikawa birdied five of his last seven holes to win the DP World Tour Championship by three shots and became the first American to be crowned the Race to Dubai champion for 2021.
2022 Notes: Played in 19 PGA Tour events, making 15 cuts with eight top-ten finishes. He was 21st in the FedExCup standings. He opened his season with a final-round 62 to finish 2nd at the CJ Cup @ Summit, finishing a shot back of winner Rory McIlroy. Next week he finished T-7th at the Zozo Championship. Morikawa entered the final round of the unofficial Hero World Challenge with a five-shot lead but shot 76 finishing T-5th, four shots back of winner Viktor Hovland. He shot a final-round 62 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to finish T-5th. Morikawa shot a final-round 65 to finish T-2nd at the Genesis Invitational, two shots back of winner Joaquin Niemann. He was T-9th at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, advancing out of group play before losing to Abraham Ancer. He finished 5th at the Masters Tournament, his first top-10 in three starts at the event. He carded a final-round 67, highlighted by a hole-out from the bunker on the 72nd hole. Held a share of the lead after the second round of the U.S. Open, shot 77-66 on the weekend to finish T-5th, four shots back of winner Matt Fitzpatrick. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-5th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, four shots back of the Will Zalatoris/Sepp Straka playoff. It was his first career top-five in a FedExCup Playoffs event. He was T-44th at the BMW Championship and T-21st at the Tour Championship. He failed to record a victory for the first time in his fourth season on the PGA Tour. In his first Presidents Cup was 1-1-1, and he beat Mito Pereira in the singles.
2023 Notes: Played in 25 PGA Tour events, making 19 cuts with seven top-ten finishes. He was 6th in the FedExCup standings. Held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds of the Sentry Tournament of Champions and entered the final round leading by six shots before carding a 1-under 72 and finishing 2nd. Became the ninth player in PGA Tour history to hold a six-shot lead with 18 holes to play and not win, tying the record for largest lead lost. He did not make a bogey on the first 67 holes before making three straight on holes 14-16 in the final round, finishing two shots back of winner Jon Rahm, who shot a final-round 63. It marked his sixth career runner-up on the PGA Tour and first since the 2022 Genesis Invitational. He was 3rd at the Farmers Insurance Open, three shots back of winner Max Homa. He was T-6th at the Genesis Invitational, six shots back of winner Jon Rahm. Was T-10th at the Masters. Shot a final round 64 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic to get into a playoff with Rickie Fowler and Adam Hadwin, Fowler won with a birdie on the first playoff hole. The FedExCup playoffs were T-13th at the FedEx St. Jude, T-25th at the BMW Championship, and T-6th at the Tour Championship. He played in his second Ryder Cup, had a 1-3-0 record, and lost his singles match to Viktor Hovland 4 & 3. In the fall won the Zozo Championship by six shots over Eric Cole and Beau Hossler.
2024 Notes: Shot final round 65 to finish T-5th at The Sentry.