Collin Morikawa, Refreshed and Refocused, Takes Early Co-Lead at Kapalua

A winless 2021-22 season led the two-time major champ to change up a few things, and an opening 64 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions was a good sign.

KAPALUA, Hawaii — Collin Morikawa succeeded and failed all at the same time in 2022.

The two-time major winner was successful in finishing 21st in the FedEx Cup and collected $4.8 million on the season for his troubles.

His failure came in that he didn’t find the winner's circle for the first time in four years and that, more than anything, grated the 11th-ranked player in the world.

Starting in the fall, Morikawa changed his focus to improve his work ethic—not from an effort standpoint but from more of a quality perspective, mainly doing the right things.

At the same time, Morikawa brought on putting coach Stephen Sweeney to his team at Mayakoba in November.

“Towards the latter part of last year, I was kind of using (caddie) J.J. (Jakovac) as my bouncing board,” Morikawa said of his reason for bringing on Sweeney. “And he's very good, don't get me wrong. Like, he knows golf. But sometimes it's nice to hear an explanation or a way to do something from someone that's specializes in that.“

Sweeney helped Morikawa develop a putting game plan.

At the same time, Morikawa is trying to simplify everything about his game including the mental game, swing, putting and even his warm-up routine.

“It's just simplify everything but just really have a laid-out process of what I need to do, and if I just kind of check those boxes every single day,” Morikawa said. “It’s going to get easier and easier. “

The process Morikawa is using, checking the boxes, is not uncommon, as he used it when he first turned pro.

“Eventually something catches up, the body doesn’t feel right and then you just kind of go in a searching mode,” Morikawa said of why he didn’t stick to his check-the-box theory. “But I'm just kind of checking those boxes off as we go and just let things happen.”

All the boxes were ticked in Thursday’s first round on the Plantation Course, as he shot a bogey-free 9-under 64 to share the first-round lead with Jon Rahm and J.J. Spaun.

“It was the game plan today, just to go out and be patient and give yourself opportunities,” Morikawa said. "Didn't really see many putts go in. It was nice to see one go in on 4 from like 30 feet. That just kind of got the round propelled from there. “

Morikawa believes his plan and his team are ready for 2023.

“I feel at ease. It doesn't feel like I have to over stretch myself to find answers. It doesn't feel like I have to work harder out there,” Morikawa said. “It's just now I know what I'm doing. Now I know an actual drill that I might need to do if I didn't do something or I'm doing something well to just kind of reinforce things. “