Collin Morikawa experienced an extremely challenging 2025 season on the PGA Tour but not just on the golf course.
Morikawa is still without a PGA Tour victory since October 2023, and he will obviously be desperate to work incredibly hard during the off-season in order to rediscover his best form.
However, the 28-year-old’s character was questioned during the season on multiple occasions as well.
Morikawa was criticized after losing out at the Arnold Palmer Invitational by just one stroke to Russell Henley.
He left the property quickly after without speaking to the media and that created a huge talking point on social media, with many fans and commentators suggesting that players should be obligated to speak to the press, just like they are in other sports.
Then just a couple of months later, Morikawa again drew negative publicity on the PGA Tour, when he changed caddies, after splitting from his long time bag man J.J. Jakovac.
Morikawa was then slammed by golf fans for his comments to a journalist who asked him about another caddie split, this time with Joe Greiner, ahead of the Rocket Classic in June.
Despite all of that, he still seemed to be in good spirits when speaking on the Fore Play Podcast Plus about all things concerning the current golfing landscape.
Collin Morikawa gives his opinion on mid-round interviews on the PGA Tour
Morikawa is one of the biggest names on the PGA Tour.
So it’s no surprise that he was one of the first players to be asked to take part in the mid-round interview initiative.
Max Homa was first to partake in the mid-round interviews at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January 2023.
It was Morikawa’s turn the following month at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, and he was asked on the Fore Play Podcast Plus whether he is a fan of mid-round interviews.
He said: “I did one, I was, Max did the first one, and I did one at Riv.
“I explained to them that I wanted an easy hole, I didn’t want to think about it, you know there’s easier holes than others.
“So it was supposed to be on 11 at Riv, which is a straight par five, kind of ho-hum, and then they switched it to 10 and I was freaking out.
“10, you’re just aiming for the left trees, hoping you find a shot, chip it up. I mean, I hit a great shot, hit it just front edge pin high, lagged it up and made par and like, got out.
“That was one they gave me an earpiece for. Now they will do like a walk and talk as you walk off the tee box in the middle of the round, so those are pretty easy.
“I don’t know if you’re getting as much out of it as you want because there are only certain questions you’re going to ask, depending on my mood. I don’t want to come off as an a–––––e.
“You see people for who they are a lot more through doing this type of stuff. We’re not trying to be anyone else, all we care about is winning, hitting great shots, making birdies. I truly don’t care about what’s going on around me.“
What Jack Nicklaus thinks of mid-round interviews
When speaking during the Memorial Tournament at his course, Muirfield Village, Nicklaus let rip on the practice of interviews being carried out mid-round.
“I can’t stand that, the interview on the golf course,” Nicklaus exclaimed.
“Let me tell you how I think, how I feel…I mean, seriously, here’s a guy, leading the golf tournament, he’s just hit the edge of the rough, he’s got a very difficult shot on a very difficult hole, and you’re talking to him about stuff that totally takes his mind off of what he was doing.
“How do you think Hogan would respond to that question? You would not have any teeth left if you did…He’d hit you right in the face with it.”
The reason why the PGA Tour started to conduct mid-round interviews was to give the fans a more interactive experience.
Personally I think we, as fans, get more out of the post-round interviews anyway, and if the PGA Tour are desperate to make a change, perhaps those should be an obligation rather than optional.
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