PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Collin Morikawa grew up in Los Angeles and had plenty of chances as a kid to check out the stars of the PGA Tour.
Yet, he didn’t.
“I’ll be honest. Like, it was never my interest when I was a kid to go and watch golf. That was just never my thing. I went a couple times to Sherwood, but other than that I never came here,” Morikawa admitted on Tuesday at Riviera Country Club.
“I just never watched a ton of golf growing up. I wanted to create my own path and I didn’t need motivation in that sense to come out here and be like ‘Wow, those guys are really good.’ I knew how good those guys were, you see them on TV, you know they’re good and that’s what I wanted to go work on myself. I didn’t want to come out here and just be jaw dropping and awestruck like, you know, ‘Wow, I hope to be one of these guys.’ I wanted to make that happen, I wanted to make that dream a reality.”
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He’s done just that. At 24, he already has a major championship on his résumé and has made $7,654,846 in on-course earnings after missing just four cuts in 37 pro starts.
Oh, and he loves the course they’re playing this week for the Genesis Invitational.
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“The first time I played here was early in the summer when I knew the U.S. Am was going to be here,” he said of the 2017 event. “I knew a couple members, Cal guys, Cal donors, whatnot, that were able to get me out here and play a couple rounds. I loved playing Riv in the U.S. Am. I liked it, but last year I actually fell in love and I know why J.J., my caddie, loves this golf course. I keep falling in love with it and it just makes it a little more special being in L.A.”
Morikawa is up to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking after swapping spots with Rory McIlroy in the latest release. He opened 2021 with back-to-back T-7 finishes at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and Sony Open in Hawaii. Then he took a break and he’s been on the down-low for the last month. Learning to manage his time has been key.
“I think it’s just being really smart about how you go through Monday through Wednesdays. I’m not out there from sunrise to sunset Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday just grinding, grinding, grinding. It might be okay for one week. Third week it’s not going to be okay,” he said. “I’ve learned that about myself. I’ve been able to be efficient with how much time I spend out there, how much rest I’m getting. It’s just huge being able to rest. We take sleep for granted, but it is really important for what we do.”
Morikawa is grouped with Patrick Cantlay and Jon Rahm for the first two days this week.
