Collin Morikawa hoping to buck post-Masters trend with victory at the RBC Heritage
- Dave Tindall
- 14 April 2022
History says it will be difficult for one of the big names to land this week’s PGA Tour event in South Carolina but the Open champion says he's ready to find the necessary spark.
Conventional wisdom along with plenty of supporting evidence says it's incredibly tough to contend at The Masters and still have enough in the tank to battle it out for victory in the RBC Heritage a week later.
There are some star names trying to prove otherwise this week and an impressive cast-list includes Cameron Smith and Shane Lowry, who both tied for third at Augusta National on Sunday.
Also present is Collin Morikawa, the Open champion coming off his best ever Masters finish: solo fifth.
Collin Morikawa finished 5thyesterday, giving him a top-5 in all four majors.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) April 12, 2022
He's the fourth-youngest to get a top-5 in each in men's major championship history.
Age (Years-Months-Days)
Jordan Spieth, 22-0-20
Jack Nicklaus, 23-5-22
Tiger Woods, 23-7-16
Collin Morikawa, 25-2-4
Morikawa admits The Masters "drained" him. So should we take that as a sign that he's here just to enjoy a gentle wind down in the pleasant surroundings of Hillton Head?
It's a theory but Morikawa certainly isn't having any of it.
After watching Scottie Scheffler make it four wins in six starts by landing the Green Jacket, Morikawa doesn't want to get left behind.
And the two-time Major winner also thinks Harbour Town Golf Links is a great venue for him: a place where he can get the win which can close Scheffler's growing lead at the top of the world rankings.
Let's look at Morikawa's record in the event, how he plays the week after a Major and what he said in his press conference.
Collin Morikawa in the RBC Heritage
2021 - T7 (65-68-67-72)
2020 - T64 (68-69-68-74)
He's played here twice and it's been a similar pattern in both events. Three good days followed by a poor closer.
Last year an opening 65 put him in third spot and rounds of 68-67 took him to second with 18 holes to play.
"Each day I've shown little specks of good golf, I've just got to put it all together for tomorrow's final round if I want a chance," he said after walking off the course on Saturday.
However, it never went his way and a 1-over 72 relegated him to tied seventh.
One week on from The Masters, did the fatigue factor finally catch up with him that Sunday?
Collin Morikawa's results the week after a Major
2021 - 8th PGA Championship - 14th Charles Schwab Challenge (69-66-72-68)
2021 - 18th The Masters - 7th RBC Heritage (65-68-67-72)
2019 - 35th US Open - 36th Travelers Championship (66-67-75-68)
It's perhaps too early to talk about patterns but on the three occasions (that's all there are) that Morikawa has played the week after a Major, he's started fast but had one poor weekend round.
In general, his result the week after has been similar to the one in the Major so after a fifth place at Augusta, perhaps we should expect him to be on page one of the leaderboard this week.
On playing this week
"Look, after a Major you're always drained. When you win you're even drained even more. And to follow it up the next week it takes a lot out of you, right?
"Last week took a lot out of me but I'm fully ready to come out here because I want to get back in the winner's circle.
"Seeing what Scottie's doing over the past couple months it's really cool to watch that, but I want to be there as well, like I feel like I'm able, if I could put together some good rounds, hopefully we can kind of spark something.
"So we're looking for that one little spark and this is a course I love the past couple years I've come out to play and I think it fits my game so hopefully we can put together four really solid round and be there on Sunday."
On the challenge of Harbour Town
"You've got like a Colonial (Charles Schwab Challenge), kind of reminds me of this where you kind of have to work the ball a little both ways off the tee, narrow fairway, smaller greens.
"Not saying I don't like the other golf courses that we play, but it's just, it's different.
"Coming from a place like Augusta where the greens are really big, a lot more slope, wide fairways, makes you focus in a little bit here.
"You can't get carried away with yourself and hit it 30 yards off line and be all right. Out here 30 yards off line might be OB. So you got to pay attention, you got to be ready to hit some quality golf shots."
On whether he knows if a win is coming
"You have these weeks where you feel really good and I had those weeks at Players, Valspar and Match Play and I think I played awful. So, no, sometimes it doesn't work like that.
"But sometimes everything's just at peace. You have nothing to worry about, you're relaxed, you're not worried about the golf, you're not worried about stuff at home, family, little issues, whatever, little things, friends texting you for anything.
"Some weeks just go by really, really, really easy and when you look back it's like, oh, you were kind of just in a peaceful zone and you got out there and you go play golf and do your job and make a lot of birdies.
"But no, I have shots like that where I think they're going to go in. Like 18 at Augusta, like when I walked up I was like, oh, this is going to be really good.
"But you only have a handful of that. Through three years I only had a handful of those shots, they've come at pretty good times. But tournament-wise, winning, I wouldn't say so."
