Collin Morikawa is probably one player who will not mind seeing the back of this PGA Tour season following an underwhelming week at the Tour Championship.
When Collin Morikawa finished second at The Sentry and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it appeared a matter of time before he secured his first PGA Tour win since 2023. In fact, he did not finish outside the top 20 in any tournament until after The Masters.
Remarkably, he has registered just one top 10 since then. He finished tied for 50th at the PGA Championship and missed the cut at The Open Championship.
It is the first season in which Morikawa has failed to register a top 10 after playing in all four majors.
Collin Morikawa explains his frustration after his performance at the Tour Championship
A tied for 19th finish at the Tour Championship summed up his season. He made a bright start on Thursday with a 64 at East Lake. However, he played the next three rounds in just two under par to fall down the leaderboard.
And speaking after his final round in Atlanta, Morikawa opened up on how frustrated he has become with his game in recent months.
“It’s weird, but I feel like my irons need to get better. I know my numbers from a numerical strokes gained look fine, but I should be able to step on 15 tee here and aim in the left edge of the water and know that ball is never going there,” he said.
“17, I had pitching wedge to a back pin, hit it left in the bunker. Those are just shots that right now for quite some time now that I am just hitting. I hate doing that. Just got to keep digging. Wake up every day and just keep figuring it out.”
Collin Morikawa assesses his Ryder Cup chances as he now awaits a call from Keegan Bradley
Few would have anticipated earlier in the year that Morikawa would have such a large question mark hanging over his place at the Ryder Cup. The two-time major champion would have previously been one of the players many would have expected to lock his place up some time ago.
However, Morikawa was eighth in the qualification standings as the top six was decided. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old admitted that he was still optimistic that he had done enough to convince Keegan Bradley to include him on his team for Bethpage.
“Yeah, it’s definitely been in the back of my head. It’s hard to push it aside. I haven’t been playing great, but I think I’m a great asset to that team. Hopefully I get a positive call from Keegan,” he said.
“Look, at the end of the day, he’s going to do what’s best for the team, and we’re going to see how that plays out. I really hope I’m part of that because the past four years of team events that I’ve been a part of, they’re the best. They sometimes wake you up and snap you back into the type of golfer you need to be.”
Morikawa was in a similar position ahead of Rome two years ago. He was 10th in the standings on that occasion.
You would imagine that he will still get a pick in the coming days. However, Morikawa’s form has certainly not been good enough to enable him to feel comfortable as he waits by the phone.
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