Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa's Instructor Saw`It' From the Very Beginning
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Everyone on the PGA tour these days, and most golf fans, understand that Collin Morikawa is a special young talent in the sport.
At 24, he already has four tour victories and this week on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina, Morikawa will try to go back-to-back at the PGA Championship.
The Cal grad won the PGA crown last August at Harding Park in San Francisco and will go for two in a row beginning Thursday.
But while the rest of us became familiar with Morikawa as his young career began to blossom at Cal, Rick Sessinghaus saw something much earlier.
Sessinghaus, a well-regarded golf instructor in Southern California, was at the Scholl Canyon Golf Course a dozen years ago when he was approached by Morikawa and his father. Collin was 8.
Morikawa’s dad asked Sessinghaus if he would work with his son. Collin took two swings and Sessinghaus said yes.
It was just a few years later when he shared his thoughts about his young pupil with his wife Kathy, Sessinghaus told Steve DiMeglio, who writes for USA Today’s Golfweek.
“I told my wife I had this kid who had the ‘it’ factor,” Sessinghaus recalled. “I told her I really believe he is going to succeed at the highest level.
“I didn’t say that flippantly. There are plenty of kids who can hit the ball. That’s the baseline stuff. I just told her I had a 12-year-old who askes a lot of great questions, is super competitive, has a great attitude, is curious, whose parents were supportive but not getting in the way. His parents and Collin weren’t obsessed with winning at the time.”
Sessinghaus, a PGA Golf Professional who earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Communications and a Masters and Doctorate in Applied Sports Psychology, has continued to work with Morikawa.
He says Morikawa was engaged and attentive from the start.
"He wanted to learn, and he had that at a very early age,” Seeinghaus told DiMeglio. “Collin had an interesting mix. He was curious yet creative. He certainly wanted to know the causes and effects of how A+B=C, but he processed it in a way that I think is best for an athlete, which is creative and athletic and not trained to be perfect.
“He wanted to understand the why. Once he got that answer, it was awesome.”
TEE TIMES: Morikawa will go off from the 10th tee Thursday at 8:44 a.m. ET, in a group with Hideki Matsuyama and Bryson DeChambeau. On Friday, the threesome starts on the first tee at 2:09 p.m. ET.
Max Homa, the 2013 NCAA champ out of Cal, tees off on the first hole at 12:52 p.m. ET along with Sam Burns and Abraham Ancer. Their Friday assignment is at 7:27 a.m. ET from the 10th tee.
Byeong Hun-An, along with Derek Holmes and George Coetzee, gets started on the first tee at 7:22 a.m. ET. Hun-An and Co. go Friday at 12:47 p.m. from the 10th.
TV INFO: Here's how you can follow action from home.
Thursday and Friday
4 to 10 a.m. PT (ESPN+):
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT (ESPN)
Saturday and Sunday
5 to 7 a.m. PT (ESPN+)
7 to 10 a.m. (ESPN)
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT (CBS)
PGA ODDS: Rory McIlroy is the consensus favorite to win this week, listed as an 11-to-1 shot, according to the William Hill Sportsbook. McIlroy won the PGA in 2012, the last time it was held at Kiawah, and won the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago.
Morikawa is listed at 30-to-1 by William Hill ad 28-to-1 by VegasInsider.
Here are William Hill’s top picks:
- Rory McIlroy: 11-1
- Jon Rahm: 14-1
- Justin Thomas: 14-1
- Bryson DeChambeau: 16-1
- Jordan Spieth: 16-1
- Dustin Johnson: 20-1
- Xander Schauffele: 22-1
- Viktor Hovland: 25-1
- Collin Morikawa: 30-1
- Daniel Berger: 30-1
- Brooks Koepka: 33-1
- Hideki Matsuyama: 33-1
- Patrick Cantlay: 35-1
- Cameron Smith: 35-1
- Webb Simpson: 35-1
- Patrick Reed: 35-1
- Tony Finau: 35-1
And the best bets, according to VegasInsider:
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GOLF CHANNEL’S FAVORITES: Ryan Lavner of the Golf Channel has not jumped on the Rory McIlroy bandwagon. He’s picking Jordan Spieth to win.
“His driving is vastly improved, his iron play is back at an elite level, and if everyone is going to miss greens, we’ll take our chances with the player who has the sickest short game in the world,” Lavner wrote. “He's THE storyline this week.”
And Morikawa? Lavner lists him at No. 8.
“The defending champ is the best iron player in the game. That’ll work everywhere, of course, but especially at a course like Kiawah that puts a premium on approach play,” Lavner wrote.
CBS SPORTS ON MORIKAWA: Kyle Porter, golf writer for CBS Sports, lists Morikawa among his favorites this week:
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THE LONGEST MAJOR IN HISTORY: Kiawah’s setup this weekend will require golfers to engage the longest major championship in history in terms of scorecard yardage.
We’re told there have been 456 majors played, none as long as this one. Here’s the top-5:
- Kiawah (2021 PGA) – 7,876 yards
- Erin Hills (2017 U.S. Open) – 7,741 yards
- Chambers Bay (2015 U.S. Open) – 7,695 yards
- Kiawah (2012 PGA) – 7,676 yards
- Hazeltine (2009 PGA) – 7,674 yards
Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Rob Schumacher, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo