What Collin Morikawa has recently learned how to do which has completely transformed his game

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Collin Morikawa is in excellent form right now and it’s largely due to his improvement in one key area.

Morikawa finished second in the first event of the 2025 PGA Tour season, The Sentry, and again at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

He’s also now in contention at the Players Championship and it seems only a matter of time before he ends his near-18-month long wait for another title.

The world number four has always been world-class with his irons but another part of his game is getting towards that level too.

• READ MORE: Collin Morikawa reacts to Rory McIlroy’s current form with the four-time major winner in contention after two rounds of The Players

Collin Morikawa has drastically improved one part of his game

Three-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner has explained where Morikawa has improved so much in recent times with some eye-catching statistics.

He told Golf Channel after the second round of the Players Championship: “A lot of people would think that TPC Sawgrass would be a great fit for Collin Morikawa, given his prolific ball-striking abilities, but it’s been the short game that’s held him back.

“In 2022, he was 152nd in strokes gained around the green. He improved to 96th in 2023. Last year, he was 10th in strokes gained around the green.

“I reached out to JJ Jakovac, his caddie, and I said, ‘what’s been the big difference?’ What he said to me was, ‘he’s learned how to read lies in the rough. He’s really got good at choosing the appropriate shot for that lie.’

“And that to me meant everything because my old caddie, Matt Hauser, he used to say the same thing to me.

And there was no better demonstration of Morikawa’s now-superb short game than on the 5th hole at Sawgrass on Friday.

Collin Morikawa’s long wait for 7th PGA Tour victory

The start of Morikawa’s career was mightily impressive, winning two majors (2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship) before the age of 25.

He also had three other PGA Tour victories and two DP World Tour wins, including the season-ending Tour Championship, before reaching that milestone.

However, since then, he has only won one tournament (2023 ZOZO Championship) and that was almost 18 months ago. It’s a remarkable barren run for a player of Morikawa’s calibre.

It almost came to an end at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he held the 54-hole lead, but he came unstuck on the back nine in the final round.

He has done well to bounce back from that with an impressive performance at The Players and only time will tell whether he can finally get over the line.