While it is true that 2020 is a year most would like to forget that isn't true of Collin Morikawa who enjoyed an incredible breakthrough season amid the coronavirus disruptions.
Morikawa had earned his PGA Tour Membership for a first full season with a fourth-place finish at the John Deere Classic in July 2019 and just over a year later was a Major winner.
Powered by an impressive iron-game Morikawa has settled into life on the PGA Tour like an absolute natural and his run of 22 consecutive cuts made after turning professional is second only to the world-record mark of 25 established by Tiger Woods.
Morikawa was briefly the top-ranked golfer in the world amateur rankings, holding the number one spot for three weeks in May 2018.
His 2020 PGA Championship win made him just the fourth golfer to win the Major before his 24th birthday.
Morikawa's iron play is outstanding.
He was paired with Tiger Woods at 2020 Farmers Insurance Open, becoming the first player to be paired with the legend on the PGA Tour who was born after Woods turned professional.
And when he won the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession by three shots he also became the first player, other than Woods, to land a WGC title and a Major Championship before his 25th birthday.
With a sensational victory in the 2021 Open he became the first man since Bobby Jones to win two Majors in eight or fewer starts.
High-performance mental trainer Rick Sessinghaus has coached Morikawa since he was just eight years old.
Amateur career
After graduating from La Canada High School in Los Angeles County, California, Morikawa attended the University of California, Berkeley, from 2015 to 2019, all the while representing their golf team.
In his freshman year, Morikawa earned seven top 10 finishes in 14 collegiate events. He was the only Bears player to compete in every event and round in the 2015/16 season.
The following season Morikawa became the eighth player in Cal history to be awarded first-team Division I All-American honors. He was also named the team's most valuable and most improved player.
As a junior, he was the Bears top finisher in seven events and finished the year as the number one ranked collegiate golfer in the United States according to both Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin ratings.
Morikawa wasn't just performing on the golf course and maintained the highest cumulative GPA on the team to win the Golden Bear Award in 2018.
Bunkers don't bother @Collin_Morikawa.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 1, 2021
He makes a highlight reel out of them. 👏 pic.twitter.com/EhOdqphUxa
He graduated with a degree in business administration in 2019 having completed his collegiate golf career as a Four-Time Division I All-American.
Morikawa won Individual Medalist Honours on five separate occasions during his four-year stint at Cal.
He represented the United States as an amateur in the Arnold Palmer Cup (2017, 2018), Walker Cup (2017) and Eisenhower Trophy (2018). His next step was laden with heavy expectations.
Turning professional
Morikawa made his professional debut in June 2019 at the RBC Canadian Open finishing in a tie for 14th place.
At the 3M Open in July 2019, Morikawa proved he could hang with the PGA Tour's big dogs by landing a tie for second with Bryson DeChambeau just one shot back of tournament winner Matthew Wolff.
The very next week he shot a 17-under 267 at TPC Deere Run for fourth place in the John Deere Classic, a result that secured his PGA Tour Card.
Before the month was out he had joined Wolff in the winner's circle.
He claimed the Reno-Tahoe Open, and with it a spot at the 2020 PGA Championship, by three points (the alternate event uses a Modified Stableford scoring system).
Morikawa's PGA Tour charge was halted by a coronavirus enforced suspension of the 2020 season, but when play resumed, he immediately proved he'd not lost his form, suffering a playoff defeat at the hands of Daniel Berger after missing a short putt for par on the first hole of sudden death.
The 2020 Travelers Championship saw Morikawa miss the cut for the first time since turning professional a year before.
His bounce-back was spectacular.
Carrying the momentum of making up a three-shot deficit over the final three holes into the playoff against Justin Thomas at the Workday Charity Open, Morikawa needed a 25-foot putt on the first extra hole to stay in the hunt.
After his putting malfunction a few weeks prior, and a reputation for being shaky on the greens, Morikawa held his nerve well and claimed the win two holes later.
PGA Championship and WGC glory
With all the chaos experienced in 2020, August's PGA Championship was the first Major of the season and just the second Major Championship Morikawa had entered.
He started the final round at TPC Harding Park two shots off the third-round leader Dustin Johnson and the final day proved to be a mad scramble with seven players tied for the lead at one point.
However, Morikawa pulled out all the stops with a special back-nine performance.
He chipped in from 54-feet for birdie at the 14th to take the lead, and two holes later played the shot of the tournament off the tee to take control, driving to within seven feet of the hole on the 332-yard par-4 and sinking the eagle putt.
Pars at the remaining two holes confirmed triumph in the 102nd edition of the event.
He set a PGA Championship record with his weekend score of 129 and tied the final round low score of 64 established by Steve Elkington in 1995.
The win also saw him break into the top five of the world rankings for the first time.
He was nominated for the PGA Tour's Jack Nicklaus Award for the player of the year but lost out to Dustin Johnson.
In the aftermath of the breakthrough Major win, Morikawa began to miss more cuts. It was not a problem, just a corrective after the stellar start to his PGA Tour career.
He confirmed as much in February 2021 when he won the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession in a dominant performance that saw him make eight birdies in a ten-hole stretch during his third round, followed by 24 holes of solid consolidation.
Open triumph
His linksland debut at the 2021 Scottish Open didn't promise much. He merely made the cut, but a week later he played the final 31 holes of his Open debut bogey-free and his Sunday round of 66 left him two shots clear of Jordan Spieth on 15-under 265.
It was a clinical display, perhaps added by softer fairways than normal and very little wind, but he dismantled the course with a superb tee-to-green game and he also putted beautifully.
He became just the second player, after Tiger Woods, to win the Open and the PGA Championship before the age of 25.
A dream debut 👏
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2021
Congratulations, Collin Morikawa, Champion Golfer of the Year 🏆
#TheOpen pic.twitter.com/x1TfIPewYI
Collin Morikawa's personal life
Morikawa was born and raised in Southern California, but has family roots in Hawaii and Japan. The family owns a restaurant in Hawaii that carries the family name even though the 2020 PGA Championship winner has never dined at the establishment.
He met his girlfriend Katherine Zhu at university with the couple bonding over their love of golf. Zhu is a more than handy player, and Morikawa credits their highly competitive couples games with improving his play.
Shortly after turning professional Morikawa moved out of California and officially now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Collin Morikawa's net worth
Morikawa has already won more than $7million on the PGA Tour and his estimated net worth is also around that mark.
He was named a golf ambassador for Zurich Insurance shortly after turning professional, wearing their logo on the left sleeve of his shirts.
Morikawa's equipment is supplied by TaylorMade while his golfing attire is handled by Adidas. He also has a marketing partnership with luxury watch company Omega.