Home course gives Collin Morikawa advantage at CJ Cup

Collin Morikawa had a phenomenal 2021 season on the PGA Tour. He won the British Open, won a World Golf Championship event, starred on the victorious Ryder Cup team and reached No. 3 in the world rankings.

Not good enough for the Las Vegas resident.

“I can’t get complacent and I can’t, you know, I always want to keep pushing myself, right?” he said as he prepares to make his season debut at the CJ Cup this week. “I want to keep getting better, and I think there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

That’s a scary proposition for the other players on tour. Morikawa, 24, is only two years out of college, has five wins — including two majors — and more than $7 million in career earnings.

But Morikawa said he isn’t consistent enough, isn’t a good player out of the rough, and he can always get better with his putting, chipping and overall ball-striking.

Morikawa looks to Jon Rahm last season or Rory McIlroy a few years back as what he would like to become.

“I remember when I turned pro, Rory was finishing, I think, top five in every event, and that’s where I want my game to be because that means I’m able to travel every week and just be ready, not have to tinker with things here and there,” he said.

Travel is not an issue this week for Morikawa, unless you count a 10-minute drive from his home in Summerlin to The Summit Club, his home course. It gives him a huge advantage over the rest of the 78-player field, most of whom had never seen the course before this week.

“There’s a sense of comfort,” he said of playing at The Summit, a spectacular course designed by Tom Fazio tucked into the red rocks with views of the Strip. “I go out on my off weeks, and I just tee it up out here. I’m comfortable with a lot of tee shots, I’m comfortable with the approaches. I know where the greens break. I know where to miss the shots.”

That doesn’t mean he will play well, he said, but the odds are clearly in his favor.

“Hopefully we can execute the shots this week, but there’s a sense of comfort,” he reiterated. “There’s not that sense of urgency to figure out the golf course per se on Tuesday or tomorrow during the pro-am. I’m ready.”

The CJ Cup is his first outing since the Ryder Cup, and players from those teams have shown quite a hangover from the event. Last week at the Shriners Children’s Open, six Ryder Cup golfers were in the field; four missed the cut and the other two weren’t a factor.

Morikawa says that’s too small of a sample size to say if there’s any correlation.

“Is there a high? Is there a low? I think everyone’s different on how you gauge what the Ryder Cup means to you and how you kind of tail off from that,” he said. “The Ryder Cup to me was a whole beast of itself, and I’ve got to focus on a new season.”

Morikawa called the Ryder Cup a great experience and said it was awesome to team with Dustin Johnson and to win.

“But this week’s a new goal, and how do I start the season off on the best foot forward,” he said.

Is he ready?

“Absolutely,” he said. “I needed this break. My body feels good. At the Ryder Cup, my body felt great, and I was hitting the ball normal, which is always exciting. Hopefully we’re just bringing that on to this new season.”

Greg Robertson covers golf for the Review-Journal. He can be reached at grobertson@reviewjournal.com.