Collin Morikawa went through most of last season “guessing” whether he could execute any given golf shot and decided the only way forward was to return to the starting line. He’s fairly confident LIV Golf and the PGA Tour could benefit from doing the same.
“It’s really hard to do that, really hard to take two steps back. I don’t think a lot of guys could admit they’ve taken two steps backwards,” Morikawa said at Augusta National Golf Club on Tuesday. “And that’s what I had to do. Start from the very basics of my golf game into college and say, ‘What are the pieces we’re going to, not rebuild, but just fit back together. Piece together and layer one on top of the other.’ The only way to do that is to take two steps back.”
Morikawa, the World No. 4, said he’s excited to share the course with one-time Tour peers and top-ranked players who’ve jumped to LIV Golf for the first time since the Ryder Cup in Paris, and wondering if his peers took the harmony of professional golf for granted.
“I enjoy it. I think everyone enjoys it. All those guys were amazing to me. They still are. Look, I think the golf world enjoys seeing everyone playing together. I don’t think anyone would say no to that,” Morikawa said of sharing the Masters’ field with Jon Rahm and others who’ve defected from the traditional circuit.
“It’s amazing how much we take for granted … in life, I think.”
Asked what he meant by the ending statement, Morikawa continued: “You look back at whenever LIV started, this whole debacle started, back then when I first turned pro, no one really complained. Right? You just, we enjoyed it. But then this all happened.
“You take things for granted — you get my point? You look back and you’re like, man, we had it pretty good. Everyone always talks about money. I think the money things needs to get pushed aside. It’s just being golfers, being professional golfers. Playing. These weeks are special now. You don’t take them lightly.”
Morikawa said he welcomes any solution that’s best for the PGA Tour.
“I haven’t sat in those meetings and I know guys have sat countless hours. I thank them for that. That’s up to the whole board and stuff. They’ll figure something out one way or the other,” he said.
After playing 13 holes on the course Tuesday in a practice-round loop, Morikawa said he’s learned in a peek at the course and in five previous starts and three consecutive top-10 finishes in the major that preparation can only carry a player so far.
“We’re always searching for new answers, searching for a new way to hear it,” Morikawa said. “Life moves on. Your body moves on. … It’s all just kind of feels and guesses. It’s a never-ending search. You are going to continue to do it because you want to get better. What I realized through the process was, I could have all the answers but I’ve got to go play golf. Playing golf is the most important part.”
–Field Level Media
