NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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While the golf world has its attention pulled in different directions, some of the on-course play hasn’t been tracked quite as closely. Collin Morikawa doesn’t mind, because this past season was quietly the worst of his three seasons on the PGA Tour.
It’s hard to be critical of the affable 25-year-old phenom who has won five tour events, including two majors, but a deeper look into his numbers suggests a possible regression from his high-flying start. Morikawa didn’t win last tour season and, although he registered eight top-10s, went 3-0-1 in the Ryder Cup and had two top-five showings in majors, his strokes gained total ranking fell to No. 29. That has dropped off from No. 14 in 2019-20 and No. 25 in 2020-21.
In layman terms, he’s not getting the ball in the hole at the same rate. They reflect the numbers of a strong player, but not a week-in-week-out superstar. The Californian’s world ranking has dropped to No. 9, his worst standing since the week before his 2020 PGA Championship win.
It’s far from panic time, of course. Morikawa’s approach play is still ridiculous, ranking in the top three each of his seasons, and he impressively gained seven yards off the tee last year to average about 302 yards per pop (incredibly, this is only good for No. 83 on tour). However, his already suspect short game has not improved in the slightest. He ranked No. 152 in strokes gained around the green last season after being No. 86 and No. 93 in the two previous years. And his strokes gained putting ranking has remained well outside the top 100 throughout his career, finishing last season at No. 131.
It’s clear he is searching for answers. Morikawa has switched putters several times this year in an attempt to find a spark, but he hasn’t found one yet.
At this past week’s Presidents Cup, Morikawa went digging once again. This time he sported a cavity-back blade putter in the TaylorMade TP Soto that closely resembles what he used in his early pro days. Morikawa had gone away from cavity-back blade putters in favor of mallets and a prototype blade.
After 18 months of using “The Claw” putting grip, Morikawa reverted to more of a standard grip and setup during the FedEx Cup playoffs. Now he has added a new putter. The TP Soto is a half-inch shorter than his previous gamer, which accommodates his setup changes, and it has an alignment dot instead of a line.
“Sometimes you just get in that little (rut) of when you're not comfortable, nothing is going in,” Morikawa said Wednesday. “Talking to a few guys at home in Vegas, playing a lot, just kind of noticed how they're putting, and I just wanted to try something different. So I got a little flatter, got my body a little more relaxed, and I was kind of able to have that rocking feeling that people always talk about putting that I've never felt in my life, which is a weird thing.”
Of particular concern is the shorties Morikawa has been known to struggle with, as he ranked No. 168 on putts inside 10 feet last season. He has been able to show volatility with his putting – and sometimes that has resulted in a victory – but the inconsistency has been frustrating.
“I've been able to show that I can get hot and I can putt well,” Morikawa said. “The problem is that so far it's been sparingly, right? It's been here and there. It might be one good round, but it's not over the course of a tournament, or it's over the course of two tournaments and then it kind of disappears. I just need to become a little more consistent putter, and a lot of it has to do with my speed, just kind of nailing those 5-foot-and-in putts. If I'm making more of those, it's going to be so much more beneficial on every aspect of my game. It's going to ease off chipping; it's going to ease off lag putting. At the end of the day, what I'm trying to do is just become a more consistent putter.”
It’s tough to track precise stats in a team event, but we will be keeping a close watch on how Morikawa’s putting develops over the next season. How that part of his game evolves will say a lot about his potential moving forward.
Sean Fairholm