UNITED STATES—On Sunday, August 9, in his second stint at a major, Collin Morikawa won the PGA Championship.
Morikawa is a California native and alumni of University of California-Berkeley had a shaky start at first but was able to pick up momentum after his hit driver on the short par-4 16th hole.
During a press conference after the event, Morikawa stated:
“By Wednesday night, I had no plans on going for 16 at all. I didn’t think the pin was going to be where it was, it was like 278 to the front and just a good drive for me is going to land just short of that in this weather, it’s going to bounce on up. Wind was a little left kind of into me but I knew I had to hit a good one and those are moments I’m going to remember, we were screaming at it to get a good bounce and we obviously got a good bounce and you have to capitalize on those shots” then added “When I make a put like that, I feel like I can make anything on a golf course.”
Morikawa’s championship win gained attention from a three-time champion by the name of Stephen Curry.
Curry asked Morikawa if he’s a leaderboard watcher during the beginning of the press conference and Morikawa responded:
“It was fun to see you out there; my caddy is a huge Warriors fan uh I’m not. I do look at leaderboards, I think it’s good to know where you’re at. I don’t want to come down 18 knowing I need to make par, try to force a birdie, or do something stupid. I looked on 12, there was a party of us with ten under and someone was going to end up separating themselves with 16 gettable pins, 14, 15 but I knew where I stood. I had made a good shot, I tied with Paul after he just made birdie and what a drive that was on 16.”
Curry offered Morikawa assistance as his caddy for the next three months since he’s available.
In his debut, Morikawa becomes the first player to win the PGA with his first attempt since Keegan Bradley in 2011.
The 23-year old former Golden Bear has won a championship before when he won the Pac-12 title on April 19, 2019.
