PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | Among the axioms attached to the Players Championship, there is the mostly true notion that the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass favors no particular style of player.
The strengths and styles of Tim Clark and K.J. Choi could hardly be more different than those of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy but each has their name on the Players trophy (admittedly, Scheffler and McIlroy have each won it twice).
Webb Simpson. Greg Norman. Matt Kuchar. Tiger Woods. Phil Mickelson. Fred Funk.
Their styles are as different as paisley and plaid but there are few absolutes at a place that embraces diversity and demands precision, especially when the wind blows as it is likely to later this week.
Which brings us to Collin Morikawa, whose particular talents – notably his state-of-the art iron play – seem ideally suited to the precise questions asked by the course Pete Dye crafted out of north Florida swampland.
While the watery three-hole finish understandably draws the eyeballs and imaginations, every hole at the Stadium Course can be like a microcosm of the bigger palate, a razor’s edge of both opportunity and catastrophe.
That’s where Morikawa, whose game is defined by the reliability of his ball striking, factors in at this Players Championship. His career record around the Stadium Course doesn’t inspire fireworks – his T10 last year was his first top-10 in five starts – but he is on the short list of players trending hot at the moment.
His victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month was his first in more than two years and he has followed it up with consecutive top-seven finishes. For the statistically inclined, Morikawa is fifth on tour in strokes gained approach and eighth in strokes gained overall.
A perpetual tinkerer with his swing mechanics, Morikawa has found his comfort zone again and his results, particularly the win at Pebble Beach, have reinforced his confidence.
Morikawa ranks outside the top 100 in strokes gained putting but his switch to a mallet-style putter prior to Pebble Beach has seemingly made the hole look bigger to him.
This could be Morikawa’s moment at the Players Championship.
“It’s a weird golf course because there’s so much that you have to do right,” Morikawa said.
“But I love it. I think it’s a ball-striking golf course.”
A perpetual tinkerer with his swing mechanics, Morikawa has found his comfort zone again and his results, particularly the victory at Pebble Beach, have reinforced his confidence.
Some of the improved form is due, Morikawa believes, to weight he’s gained since last season. He is about eight pounds heavier than he was last year and feels physically stronger.
Morikawa has not directly chased more distance but his accuracy has typically offset any length disadvantage.
“A lot of it has just had to do with my body. It hasn’t really been a mindset. I’m going to continue to be hard on myself. I’m going to continue to find the things I want to keep getting better at,” Morikawa said.
“I do have to realize, like when I’m not playing great I can still put together scores. But a lot of it comes back after I peel the layers farther and farther back to where, like, from the time I step on property, like do I feel comfortable with my body and myself and going out and playing golf?
“I think 2024 is the best example of that … where I put together a lot of great scores, put together a lot of great four-round scores essentially, but I just never felt comfortable because I always tried to Band-Aid things.
“I was good at Band-Aiding them. I was good at finding ways. But for me to go out and try and win, I think I can only put so many of those little Band-Aids on. I really have to find the basic structures of who I am and how I play golf.”
“And then you go down another rabbit hole and you keep going down these rabbit holes, and eventually you end up digging yourself a grave, unfortunately.” – Collin Morikawa
Morikawa’s self-evaluation and willingness to explore technical rabbit holes doesn’t compare with Viktor Hovland’s curiosity but there are similarities they have discussed with each other. The success that seemed to come early – Morikawa won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship – established a level that has proven difficult to maintain.
At times, Morikawa has gotten in his own way.
“You’re always trying to tweak things. You’re always trying to improve,” Morikawa said.
“I would say I’m still a much better golfer now just because I’ve learned a lot more and I think I know how to just manage myself. I had my tendencies. I knew how to fix those tendencies; whereas last year, two years ago, three years ago, the tendencies were creeping in, but they were creeping in for maybe different reasons. …
“Then you start thinking like, man, like what’s wrong? And then you go down another rabbit hole and you keep going down these rabbit holes, and eventually you end up digging yourself a grave, unfortunately.”
Morikawa has dug himself out and, set to become a father for the first time in May, he has a refreshed approach entering the biggest event of the year to this point. While he wouldn’t get pulled into the discussion about whether the Players Championship should have major championship status, Morikawa wants what he does not yet have.
“I know this whole debate on major, not a major, I think, you ask any collegiate golfer, ask any junior golfer, like they obviously want to win the four majors, but you want to win the Players,” Morikawa said.
“I want to finish off my career and look back one day and say I won the Players Championship. It’s a tournament you want to win. So I put it very, very high up there in the list of things I want to get done.”