Collin Morikawa is still a stellar golfer in 2022 despite the young PGA Tour star failing to win

Collin Morikawa was unsuccessful in winning the Global Technology Championship in Mayakoba. He barely argues, but when the dust settles on one of the last PGA Tour events of the year, Morikawa still finds himself at the center of the story.

Earlier in the week, Golf channel commentator Trevor Immelman suggested that perhaps the reason Morikawa is having a hard time in 2022 – a year he couldn’t win – is because it’s so hard to live at the top. the bar he set for himself early in his career when he won 5 of his first 50 PGA Tour events and 2 of his first 8 major championships.

Morikawa’s reaction to Immelman’s innocuous comment was strange, and made me think he had completely misunderstood what Immelman had said.

“Well, it’s hard to hear from him,” Morikawa told Golf Channel. “I couldn’t be more interested in what he said there because I don’t think it’s my bar. I think I have a lot more room for improvement. I’m close to reaching the bottom. I don’t think I’ve even finished close to average when placing. If I could just put my shot at average, I think there’s a lot more room for improvement. I don’t know where that comes. from where, but that kind of stinging I don’t like to hear that.

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or not, I’ll be honest. If he did, it’s probably wrong from what I’ve heard. For me, I’ve never seen a ceiling. . I just want to keep improving. Obviously, we’ve taken a few steps back this year. It’s just trying to get better every day and trying to improve on the little things. play well. I set really high goals for myself. It’s only bad when they don’t make it through.”

Immelman then confirmed that the whole thing was in fact just a misunderstanding, but between Morikawa’s reaction, his hiring of the team coach, and his earlier week’s monologue about the plight of growing old (Morikawa steps) turns 26 next February), it makes me wonder what else is going on. with the two-time major champion.

“This year is a lot more stressful,” Morikawa said of his 2022. “I was just trying to figure out what was wrong when it was simply a body thing and just the way my body moved. . Unfortunately, it took seven, eight months throughout the year to at least find it. I figured it out, but it’s up to me. must be aware of what I am doing.

“I just can’t make sure everything is where I want it to be. It’s a tough one, but it’s a great thing. Even though we’re looking forward to this season, this fall region, I’m putting a lot of money into it. many pieces come together and are working very hard to ensure that the next of this kind in 2023 will become [the] best ever.”

To be clear, Morikawa is talking about how his body works in 2022.

“I think it’s just getting older,” said the 25-year-old. “Yeah, no, it’s just getting older. I mean, man, I drank a lot more in college than I do now, but it seems that as you get older, your body moves differently. I still feels great, like everything is great, everything is great, but it’s not as clean as it used to be. And the maintenance I have to do now is just a little bit more. That doesn’t mean I need to do anything crazy, I’m not really changing anything, it’s just getting my body where I need it.

“Last year, I didn’t really have to focus on it, but when I look back and you think about the travel that I’ve taken over the last three and a half years, it’s been a lot. It doesn’t stop. I love it. , but commuting affects your body and it harms you and you have to be able to get things done your way and that’s what the best athletes do.”

It’s clear that Morikawa is frustrated that he hasn’t been able to back up his spectacular 2020 and 2021 campaigns with something similar in 2022, and he’s proven Immelman’s point – and publicity. By the way, many professionals and even players are like that. have been doing for years – that when you don’t achieve what you were used to at such a young age, it can drain you mentally, physically and emotionally.

Statistically, there was no statistically significant change, which is encouraging for Morikawa. He has dropped slightly in his highs from 2021 (1.62-1.47 strokes per half) but not nearly enough to be of concern. He’s actually the better hitter in 2022 than he is in 2021, though his short run suffered the biggest categorical drop of any other part of his game.

An interesting nuance is that while Morikawa’s best performances and worst performances are close to what he did in 2021 (his expected win count has dropped from 1, 97 to 0.94 from 2021 to 2022), his average performance in 2022 is much worse than theirs. in 2021. Theoretically, this shouldn’t matter as it’s related to winning (you only win with your best performance anyway), but it does. maybe problems related to the way he feel like he was playing.

The point is that Morikawa will be fine. He is a high variance player, which if you intend to collect a lot of trophies then that is what you want. It would be good for him mentally and emotionally to understand that just because a few tournaments went on early in his career, it doesn’t mean that his basic is someone winning. win three or four regular events and a major tournament each year. Data Golf has him in 0.20 majors scheduled for 2020, and he won one; it helped him get the 0.45 major scheduled for 2021 and he won another spot. This is important because, while he is good, he is not so great in 2020-2021 but the expectations after winning two majors began to pile up. We wouldn’t even have this conversation if Morikawa was a three-win guy, lacking nothing.

If you have foresight, wins and losses are often random, which means they can sometimes happen in waves. Just because you won two of your first eight majors doesn’t mean you’re a second to Tiger Woods. Just because you didn’t win any of the next 15 doesn’t mean the Korn Ferry Tour is in your future.

Morikawa exceeded both expectations and the statistical probability of winning in the first few years of his career. He was overdoing it. It happens, but it doesn’t mean a year without a win has changed him as a player or as an opponent, even if it can often feel that way.

Got things to work on? Sure. Can the iron game be a little better? Right. Does he need to clean up his short game a bit? Sure. But if Morikawa continues to play like he did in 2022, he will have more seasons (in terms of wins) than he did in 2021. That may seem counterintuitive, but as we are. We’ve seen so many times throughout golf history, the game makes absolutely no sense. If you let it, the sport can confound even those who seem to have every answer.