PLAYA DEL CAMEN, Mexico – Collin Morikawa started working with a putting coach in his first year of professional golf. Morikawa began working with Stephen Sweeney after round 67. Five-time TOUR winner Morikawa said that it was the first time in tournament history where “everything feels really good.” Morikawa tied for second in putts to greens in regulation at the halfway point of the final round. “It’s really thrilling.” Morikawa won two majors before turning 25. However, his putting was the only substandard statistic in his game. He was ranked 178th in Strokes Gained, putting in 2020-21 and 131st 2021-22. He was ranked 202nd during the first part of this season. Morikawa won his last title at The Open Championship 2021. Morikawa had two second-place finishes last season, a solo second at the CJ CUP in South Carolina as well as a T2 at The Genesis Invitational. Morikawa stated that he has been working with Sweeney for approximately a week. Sweeney counts other TOUR winners such as Shane Lowry, Sebastian Munoz, and Aaron Wise among his pupils. Morikawa said that he’s starting to understand “very basic, common things” about the “why” behind putting. This is something he acknowledged that he wasn’t always sure of. Morikawa laughed and said, “I’m certain a lot people will guess why now” but it all comes down to knowing why. I didn’t understand putting as well as some of these guys (on PGA TOUR). It’s not difficult, once you hit the putt. I was not aware of the reasons I had good weeks and bad weeks. Although I believed I was doing something, I wasn’t able sustain it. It’s not too mechanical with Sweeney and it feels amazing. It was fun to have a putter in my hands this week and hit a lot a good putts.” Morikawa was tied for 14th at El Camaleon as the last TOUR-sanctioned event. However, he has a major event on the golf course in three months – his wedding. Morikawa confirmed that he was involved in the planning of the event and looks forward to a relaxing break, enjoying the excitement and being with his family. He is pleased to announce that he has added a putting coach to his team for the first time in his professional career. Morikawa said, “Seeing how I played this past week and the improvements I can make is exciting.” Although there were some small improvements I didn’t notice, from a mental and physical perspective, it was a much better performance. Although I have many things to learn and clean up, I feel like I can put this year behind me and continue growing as a person and a golfer.
By: Adam Stanley
Title: Collin Morikawa working with putting coach for first time
Sourced From: www.pgatour.com/news/2022/11/06/collin-morikawa-working-with-putting-coach-for-first-time.html
Published Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2022 12:00:00 -0500
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