Collin Morikawa and Keegan Bradley have committed to play in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village June 6-9. Today we will discuss about Collin Morikawa: Press Conference,Viktor Hovland Reacts.
Collin Morikawa: Press Conference,Viktor Hovland Reacts
There was a point in Collin Morikawa’s first round at the PGA Championship when he was 11 shots behind leader Xander Schauffele. Sure, there was still a long way to go, but double figures always seem like a challenging proposition.
Four hours later the 2020 PGA champion made seven birdies to shoot a 5-under 66 and finish tied for fifth, just four shots behind Schauffele, whose 62 was the Valhalla course record and the all-time low score in PGA Championship history.
Those with late afternoon tee times not only saw Schauffele set the pace, but players like Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Sahith Thegala and Brooks Koepka also posted stellar scores.
But Morikawa started with bogeys on the second and fifth holes and was soon at 2 over par. He twice birdied three in a row – Nos. 6-8 and Nos. 12-14 – and finished the day with another birdie on the par-5 18th hole, leaving only four players above him on the leaderboard.
“Obviously, I was watching the coverage this morning, and you want to get off to a good start, especially with how everyone is playing, and I was two over five,” said Morikawa, who finished third last month. he said.
Masters, but shot 74 in the final round. “And just knew, you know, everything is looking good moving forward. Just continue to give yourself opportunities, be able to hit some close hits, be able to make some putts and just use that throughout the rest of the day.”
Many of Morikawa’s birdies were of the meaty variety. On the par-4 sixth hole, Morikawa hit his approach shot from 218 yards to 6 feet to score his first red. He got up-and-down from 100 yards on the par-5 seventh hole, then hit his tee shot to 40 feet on the par-3 eighth hole and holed it out for three consecutive birdies.
After two pars, the 27-year-old was hot again when he made a 20-footer for birdie on the par-4 12th, made another birdie from 18 feet on the 12th and finished the run with a birdie from 10 feet. After hitting his tee shot from close at the par-3 14th.
Press Conference
“Yeah, it’s nice to make some birdies here,” he said. “Obviously other guys are making a lot of birdies, but knowing that you’re able to get into a roll. I haven’t got small parts like birdie, birdie, birdie in a long time. So just to see that, it’s great for my mental side the rest of the week, just knowing I can put together a good little group of golf.
Collin Morikawa hit something rough at the Masters and has been depressed ever since. He ranks fifth in total true strokes gained (2.57) since his debut at Augusta.
At .75 he was ranked 60th among players in the PGA Championship field in total true strokes gained before his first major.
The key to his improvement has been with the putter. Morikawa switched to a mallet putter before the second round at Augusta and has achieved .94 true strokes since. Before the switch, he was losing .43 true strokes on the green.
Morikawa was already gaining strokes with his other clubs this season and was particularly accurate off the tee, hitting 345 of 438 possible fairways (78.77 percent), tied for second among tour players.
Viktor Hovland Reacts
Viktor Hovland has been a mystery for several months.
It may have been longer than that; Hovland has always been a bit of a mystery. But Hovland’s focus changed last fall when, after the best summer of his life, he quietly parted ways with swing coach Joe Mayo.
On tours, player-coach differences happen all the time. They are part of the structure of the game, like bogey or khaki. But what made it especially surprising was that with Mayo’s help, Hovland had reshaped his game. He had turned one of the worst short games on the PGA Tour – a big, glaring weakness – into a strength. And then he will become the hottest player in the world. He competed in the Players, Masters and PGA. He won the Memorial, BMW Championship and Tour Championship. He earned over $30 million in on-course earnings. But it was not enough.
Hovland has always been a hard employer to impress. Last summer we expressed surprise at the lack of curiosity displayed by some of our peers during a range session interview – including in the way they evaluated their coaches.
“I am in charge of my own business. I am the CEO of Victor Hovland Golfing Enterprises. And that includes hiring people who help me with my golf swing,” he said.
After the split, Hovland was not too eager to get into the why, except when he said he felt like he had gotten as much as he could from that version of his golf swing.
“I felt like I had basically reached the pinnacle of what my golf swing was able to do last year,” Hovland said ahead of the 2024 Masters. “When I look at my swings from 2020, 2021, in my opinion, I actually had more control over the golf ball.”
But after Mayo, the 2024 version of Hovland has struggled. His best performance in seven starts this year is T19 – and he faces a heartbreaking missed cut at the Masters
