Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Set to try a New Approach at the Masters - Be Himself

The two-time major champion finished 44th and 18th in his first two tries at Augusta.

Collin Morikawa already owns victories at two of golf’s four majors — the 2020 PGA and 2021 British Open — but his experience so far at the Masters has left him disappointed.

He tied for 44th place in his debut in the fall of 2020 then tied for 18th last spring.

Those two experiences taught the 25-year-old Cal grad a valuable lesson: Be yourself.

"I need to play my game," Morikawa said during his pre-tournament news conference Monday at Augusta National.

The advice Morikawa received (and tried to follow) the past two years was to play a draw off the tee -- which for a right-handed golfer like Morikawa is a ball flight that moves from a player's right to his left. That’s apparently the standard approach for many players at the Masters, but it left Morikawa feeling out of his element.

"You hear how much you need to hit draws and you have to hit it high and you have to do certain things, but that's what I did wrong the past two years,” he said.

"It was just frustration of me missing a bunch of tee shots and thinking -- I was pretty much starting the hole uncomfortably.

"Like it's just not natural for me to do that. Doesn't mean I can't play it but when you're over a shot and you want to hit a fairway, and I can play it to my strength, why not?”

Morikawa is considered among a handful of golfers given a realistic shot at winning this week. He has finished in the top-10 in five of his past seven tournaments, although his world golf ranking recently slipped from No. 2 to No. 3.

He said his shot selection has been his undoing at the Masters.

“In a small package, it's just really hitting cuts and hitting fairways,” he said of the strengths of his game. “That's as simple as it gets. Those are my strengths. Irons are my strength. How do I stick to that? … When you're over a shot and you want to hit a fairway, and I can play it to my strength, why not?”

As a result, Morikawa said his week of prep for the Masters — he skipped the Valero Texas Open at San Antonio last week — was more like what he customarily does.

"Pretty much my week prep two years ago and last year was how do I hit a draw, how do I hit a high draw, how do I do this," Morikawa said. "This year was a little different. This year I just made sure everything was finely tuned and I go out there and figure out how to play the course to my strengths. 

"And that's the biggest thing that I've learned I think overall.”

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa during a Masters practice round by Goodale Katie, USA Today

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