Ryan Lavner says one part of Collin Morikawa’s game is so much better than it was earlier in his career

Add as preferred source on Google

Collin Morikawa was undoubtedly one of the stars of the show as USA retained the Presidents Cup in largely comfortable fashion at Royal Montreal last week.

Collin Morikawa was one of the four players Jim Furyk trusted to play all five sessions at Royal Montreal, and he repaid that faith by winning four points. It was his best return in a team event of his professional career to date.

It has been a real return to form for Morikawa over the past year. His game seemed to dip in the months after his second major championship win, going more than two years without a victory on the PGA Tour. He was in contention to win heading into the final round of The Masters and the PGA Championship earlier this year, while he was also the only player who seemed to stand any chance of stopping Scottie Scheffler winning The Tour Championship.

Collin Morikawa lauded for his improvement

Morikawa was widely-known for being a phenomenal iron player during the early stages of his career. But perhaps that aspect of his game has been somewhat surpassed by his other skills. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner suggested that the world number four is now even better than he was when he won his two major titles.

“It seems like a minor miracle that he did not win a golf tournament in 2024. He was in the final group at two major championships. He’s a more complete, well-rounded player now than when he won a major in 2021 and 2020 at the PGA Championship, which obviously was sort of obscured by Covid,” he said.

“But he’s so precise and he’s so accurate, one of the best drivers of the golf ball. He may no longer be at that Scottie Scheffler-type excellence level with his irons, but he is such a better putter and chipper and pitcher of the golf ball than he was earlier in his career.”

One to watch in 2025

Morikawa looks to be well placed to win a third major title in 2025. He is second on the PGA Tour for driving accuracy, while he is first for putts per round – which is particularly impressive when you consider that his iron game is not quite as good as it once was.

Obviously, golf does not always work this way, but if he can bring his approach game back up to its previous level, he could be difficult for even Scottie Scheffler to beat.

Morikawa has been backed to win another major ‘very soon’ – perhaps edging him ahead of that group on two titles, which includes Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.