NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Collin Morikawa made headlines before last week’s Genesis Invitational when he announced he is sticking by the PGA Tour and not jumping ship to the proposed Super Golf League. On the quieter side, Morikawa made gear news as well; the two-time major champ is staying loyal to TaylorMade. He signed a multiyear extension to continue playing a full bag of the brand’s clubs.
“TaylorMade has been with me my entire professional career, and I am excited to continue to be a part of Team TaylorMade for many years to come,” Morikawa said in a statement.
The extension is likely a significant raise for Morikawa, who signed with TaylorMade and Adidas in 2019 shortly after finishing his decorated college career at Cal.
One interesting aspect of Morikawa’s setup is that he has largely used multiple models of TaylorMade irons. When he won the PGA Championship in 2020, he used a P750 4-iron and 5-iron matched with the P730 model for 6-iron to pitching wedge. At last year’s Open Championship, he won by implementing a P770 4-iron, P7MC 5-9 irons and P730 pitching wedge.
His current setup is similar to what he used at Royal St. George’s, but it has a slight modification as both his 8- and 9-irons are the P730 model. Why the mixing and matching? It typically comes down to turf interaction with how clubhead shapes move through the impact zone at different attack angles.
Oddly, Morikawa does not play blade irons throughout his whole set, often relying instead on more forgiving irons like the P7MCs. He put them into his bag just in time for the Open Championship last summer after having struggled without them in the Scottish Open one week before.
"I changed my irons, my 9- through 7-iron that I normally have blades in. I changed to the MCs strictly because I couldn’t find the center of the face,” Morikawa said after the second round of that Open Championship. “Those are three crucial clubs that are some of my favorite clubs. My 8-iron is my favorite club in the bag, and when I wasn’t able to hit it (well) last week, I knew I had to try something different.”
It’s hard to argue with that, given Morikawa’s stellar approach play – he ranked No. 1 in strokes gained approach last season (1.17 per round) and is No. 3 this season (1.05 per round).
One thing to watch in Morikawa’s game is his often-volatile putter. Last year, he ranked No. 178 in strokes gained putting but had a penchant for hot tournaments like the Memorial Tournament (1.34 strokes gained), the WGC-Concession (.988 strokes gained) and the Sony Open (.812 strokes gained).
In a small sample size, Morikawa came into last week at No. 27 in strokes gained on the greens this season. He is using a TP Juno Long Neck Putter.
Sean Fairholm