Chiba, Japan – It has took two years for Collin Morikawa to get his fifth career win and second major championship (at The Open Championship) in 2021, and it took the same amount of time for him to earn his next victory – on Sunday at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan. Morikawa’s final-round 63 was a sublime bogey-free final-round that featured an exclamation point birdie at the last. He won going away by six over Eric Cole and Beau Hossler.
“It wasn’t like I didn’t believe I was going to have another win or … when that was going to happen. It was just more about when it was going to happen, right?” said Morikawa after the final round. “I think the thoughts in your head start piling up of like, OK, well, what did I do differently, what do I need to change?”
Morikawa talked about how he and his wife Katherine spent the early part of the week eating their way through various neighborhood restaurants both high-end cuisine and casual street fair varieties – including sushi by 97 year-old master Jiro Ono.
“I don’t know how to explain it other than it just being an incredible experience and an honor to be there sitting in front of him and witnessing just talent, right? It’s artwork,” Morikawa said. “I think you can look at that, anyone that has a true passion for something that they really love to do, you can see that artwork they produce and that’s what it was. We were very, very lucky.”
Morikawa spent extra hours getting a feel for the greens at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. “It’s nice when things click like that,” he said. “Even the ones that were missing were good putts, they were great looks. Just got to a point today where it was like, I put good speed on it and the ball’s going to have a great chance of going in the hole.”
The former Cal Bear standout trailed Justin Suh by two entering the final round but got off to a hot start and never looked back as Suh struggled to a final round 74 to tie for 10th. “The game felt really good,” Morikawa said. “Knowing that I was two back and just wanting to give yourself a chance with nine holes left, everything just kind of clicked, and we were able to not make any errors really, make the par putts when needed, and it was nice to finish off that front nine with a birdie on 8 and 9.”
“It feels incredible. Every win’s so different, and every experience, whether it’s winning or losing, you learn a lot, but this one just meant the world,” Morikawa said.
