Collin Morikawa stunned a half-dozen serious contenders late Sunday afternoon at the 102nd PGA Championship with a sensational shot that will go down as one of the finest in the history of major championship golf.
Morikawa hit that unforgettable shot on the 70th hole of the championship — the short par four 16th where he hit the ultimate perfect drive. It was a high fade that landed just short of the green, took four bounces then rolled up on the putting surface and stopped just seven feet from the hole. He finished it off with the eagle putt that set up the first major championship victory for the 23-year-old rising star.
The drive was reminiscent of the tee shot he hit at the 14th at Muirfield Village that helped him win the Workday on July 12.
“I actually did,” Morikawa admitted when asked if that shot from Muirfield entered his mind before he hit that magnificent drive at 16. “He (Caddie J.J. Jackovac) looked at me and asked me what I wanted to do and I told him, let’s hit a good drive,” Morikawa said. “I counted back from 14 at Muirfield. What’s the different from 14 at Muirfield and this shot, similar numbers, wind was a little left, kind of into me, but I knew I had to hit a good one. Fourteen at Muirfield was pretty special. I hit a really good shot (at 16) then made the putt (for eagle) and here we are,” he said as he got ready to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy.
As he lifted the massive trophy, it tilted and the lid flew off, startling Morikawa. It was his only fumble of the day.
The first-year star who went to school at nearby Cal-Berkeley, began his final run to victory at the par four 14th. He hit a poor second and left himself about 55 feet short of the hole, off the green. All he did was pitch his third in for birdie to get to 11-under par.
To that point, it was a free-for-all on the back nine at Harding Park. At one time, there was a traffic jam of players at 10-under par including overnight leader Dustin Johnson, Scottie Scheffler, Paul Casey, Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau Jason Day and Morikawa. Matt Wolff was already in at 10-under after shooting 66.
It was obvious that 10-under wouldn’t win and 11-under might go to a playoff. Morikawa blew past that when he holed that short eagle putt from seven feet, one-inch, to be exact. That took him to the winning score of 13-under. After that, he nearly birdied the 17th then watched anxiously as he pulled his approach to the 18th, pulled it to where it landed just past the pin and settled a comfy 18 feet from the hole. He lagged to six inches and had the world’s easiest tap-in for victory.
“It’s amazing, it’s been a life goal. To come here to San Francisco where I spent four years here (Cal-Berkeley), it’s pretty special,” Morikawa said, flashing a huge smile after putting an incredible final round 64 on his scorecard, a card that had four days of sub-70 scores (69-69-65-64).
He outlasted great efforts by Wolff, who closed with 65, Casey 66, Day 66, DeChambeau 66, Finau 66, Scheffler 68 and Johnson 68.
Casey, who shared second with Johnson (11-under), saw Morikawa’s tee shot at 16 and later paid him homage.
“I played wonderful golf, simple as that,” Casey said. “What a shot he (Morikawa) hit on 16. What a shot, nothing you can do but tip your hat to that. He took on the challenge and pulled it off. That’s what champions do.”
Morikawa joined some elite company, winning the PGA at age 23. Jack Nicklaus was 23 when he won in 1963. Tiger Woods was 23 when he won in 1999 and 23-year-old Rory McIlroy hoisted the Wanamaker in 2012.
What’s even more impressive is that this was Collin’s 29th professional start.
Another guy won his first major at his 29th professional start.
That was Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters.
16 Comments
baxter cepeda
The hole out was most impressive imo. But that tee shot on 16 was also super clutch considering none of the contenders did anything like that.
As I shared Collin took his lessons at the executive I started playing. So we’re stoked for him. He is small in stature but really is a stud.
Speaking of studs Toms boy Brooks Stunk it up after a lot of smack talk.
Unlike Brooks So many guys played pretty well, but only one guy came with the goods of a champion.
Where do we put Collin in the golf scheme now? Wherever it is It’s gotta be pretty darn high. #real deal
Tom Edrington
That’s as dramatic a back nine as you could hope for, that was a huge number of players who could have won. Drive on 16 will be shown over and over. Too bad there were no crowds, they would have been in a frenzy with everything that transpired. As for Brooks, he was just force-fed a huge chunk of humble pie. So maybe he’ll just shut up and figure out where his game is. Everyone kicked his butt on Sunday, including DeChambeau. I couldn’t believe Bryson’s second to 16, I thought he had no prayer of getting that close. Anyway, Harding Park was an awesome setup, now it’s on to the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, another great layout. Morikawa has the perfect game for U.S. Opens as well, kid is a superb ball striker and in the scheme of things, has enough distance off the tee to get it done.
RM
That was one HELL of a tournament for him. Incredible golfer who obviously already can handle pressure. 4 time All-American. 4 year graduate at Berkeley with some smarts. Head seemingly screwed on right as far as one can tell.
Every year there seems a new hot player so we don’t want to get too carried away. I mean 5 or so years ago it seemed like Jordan Spieth could be pretty indomitable.
But all that being said – what a future this kid has! Excited to watch the story unfold.
Tom Edrington
RM: Spot on; Jordan Spieth WISHES he had this kid’s fundamentals; Collin is simply a superb ball-striker; He showed NO weaknesses when the heat was on; He’s long enough, plays that power fade which means he can play anywhere…His putter was fantastic, I’m thinking that missed putt in the playoff at Colonial really motivated him to spend more time with the flat-stick; Sky’s the limit; As you mentioned, didn’t come out early, business degree so yes, HE IS very bright!! Love this kid, that’s why I had him in my top four to win….
RM
That was a good pick that I kind of (mistakenly) wrote off when you put your picks up. That’s why you do what you do!
Tom Edrington
RM: Love everything about Collin; Classic golf swing, his own, I think he will get stronger as he grows and won’t have to “chase” distance the way Spieth did….much more fundamentally solid than Spieth ever dreamed of being, that ultra-weak left hand is the root of all Jorday’s evils.
baxter cepeda
Yea Tom The fundamentals seems like the key for Morikawa. Like Jordan distance will be an issue at times but unlike Jordan, Collins game seemingly will rarely let him down Moving forward; good for the long haul.
To be fair Jordan’s unique traits have taken him pretty darn far in golf but maybe his Unique idiosyncrasies are what are holding jordan back now. It seems That won’t be the case for Collin. But what does Jordan do, become more classic like Collin or stay the course?
50-50 on that here.
Tom Edrington
As I mentioned to RM, the root of all Jordy’s evil, aside from the distance chase, is that ultra-weak left hand, bad leg action as well; Collin is very strong for his size, he’ll get stronger without going nuts, he’s plenty long as he is…
baxter cepeda
But again Jordan won a lot of majors with that weak hand grip
Tom Edrington
Problem is it kept getting weaker and weaker and he did hit a lot of wild shots back then; Every putt he looked at went in the hole during that run….
RM
As for Brooks, I like him and hope he bounces back. Hate to get too deep in the psych woods, but it almost seemed to me like he became a bit too concerned with sort of building a persona or mystique around himself and perhaps took his eye off simply playing his game, which is all someone with his talent needs. Hope he just focuses on powering his way through whichever course he’s playing; that is plenty intimidating without the woofing and hype. Maybe Rory’s comments will make him take a step back.
Tom Edrington
I think his left knee is more troublesome than anyone knows….
baxter cepeda
Not this time Tom. Like tiger brooks looked healthy enough. He talked a big game and blew it. It’s that’s simple. You know what they say if you can walk the talk; but that didn’t happen this time.
Tom Edrington
I saw a bit of limp at times and you saw him being stretch out three times on the back nine on Saturday; Take it from someone with a hip replacement, a hip resurfacing and a knee replacement…
baxter cepeda
Brooks was getting his hip stretched Tom. Not his knee. In fact the knee was getting manhandled with no regard as the hip was stretched, simply because he was a little tight from all the lifting and this and that.
Part of being great at golf is not being broken down physically all the time.
If brooks cannot even finish rounds of golf without constant medical attention, maybe he should take it easy on the smack talk next time.
When a player talks like that they have to back it up; tightness is no excuse.
Tom Edrington
Baxter, knee issues lead to hip issues, take it from someone who knows…