Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Voted 2021 Player of the Year by Writers Association

The 24-year-old is 8 strokes back at Dubai headed into Sunday's final round.
Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Voted 2021 Player of the Year by Writers Association
Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Voted 2021 Player of the Year by Writers Association /

Things haven’t gone according to plan on the golf course this week for Collin Morikawa, but the 24-year-old Cal grad did get some good news.

Morikawa has been named the 2021 male player of the year by the Golf Writers Association of America. He received 48 percent of the vote to beat world No. 1 Jon Rahm, who got 37 percent and was second in the voting.

Patrick Cantlay was the PGA tour player of the year.

“I have a deep appreciation for the journalists dedicated to promoting our great game, and to be recognized amongst the names of past winners is humbling,” said Morikawa, who won twice in 2021 including at the British Open to finish as the world’s No. 2-ranked player.

Morikawa also finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.

Nelly Korda was voted the GWAA female player of the year and Phil Mickelson won the award among senior players.

At the Dubai Desert Classic, Morikawa seemed to straight out his game after two holes on Saturday, but he remains far out of contention at the Dubai Desert Classic.

Morikawa bogeyed his first two holes in the third round, dropping him from 25th place to 42nd. But the 24-year-old played bogey-free golf the rest of the day and finds himself part of a three-way tie for 20th at minus-4.

Morikawa had birdies on 8, 10 and 18 and wound up with a 1-under 71 on Friday.

He shares 20th place with two other golfers but remains eight strokes off the lead.

Justin Harding, a 35-year-old South African, retained the top spot at Dubai after shooting a 71 in the third round. Harding, who had a 65 in the opening round, is at minus-12 through three days.

Harding had a two-stroke lead over Rory McElroy, whose third-round 69 moved him into second place at 10 under. He is one stroke ahead of Tommy Fleetwood and Erik van Rooyen, with six players just behind them at minus-8.

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa after winning the British Open by Peter van den Berg, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo


Published
Jeff Faraudo
JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics.