Collin Morikawa lands at TPC Sawgrass just as he is starting to recover his best smile: he has won again, shone last week at Bay Hill and it seems the pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fall back into place. It’s not that he fell very far, but he is expected to contend at every big event and appears to be on the road back. This week he faces a big test.
Ahead of The Players, a tournament he has played six times, Morikawa has not hidden away and has put three very specific changes on the table that he believes have been key to starting to get back to his best: fitness, swing and schedule. Golf isn’t an exact science, as you know, but he feels these three factors are delivering results.
The first is fitness. Morikawa explained that between October and December he did, for the first time consistently, serious work to “fix” his body. He came from seasons in which he competed with temporary solutions — he put it that way, like applying “plasters” — and it reached a point where he understood that those were enough to get rounds in, but not to win regularly. The area he pointed to is the lower back. He needs mobility there to be able to turn, separate lower and upper body and maintain posture through impact. It may look all correct on video, but if the body doesn’t cooperate, the shot he wants to hit doesn’t come out as he imagines. He has done a lot of gym work to strengthen the area.
The second change is the swing, but not as a mere tweak. It is a direct consequence of the first: when the back moves, his swing is his swing again. He is not talking about rebuilding the mechanics, but about regaining the ability to hit the shot he has in his head without his body asking permission. Collin wants to reduce the margin for error and avoids falling into the trap of trying ten different solutions until he finds one that works that day. He admits he has spoken several times with Viktor Hovland, who is well known for the problems he has got into because of constant swing changes.
Así lo explica el norteamericano: “From October to December last year— it was the first time I put the time and energy in to really fix my body. It doesn’t mean I’m going to be the same as when I was 22 and turned professional. It doesn’t mean I’m going to be the same as three years ago. But I made the effort to take care of myself, stay healthy, make sure everything moves as it should. So, when I go out to warm up and hit balls, I’m not warming the body: I’m warming my game and syncing up”.
The consequences have been immediate and from the first two changes he is now generating more clubhead speed on the downswing. Morikawa acknowledges he is registering higher numbers, but insists he didn’t pursue that as a target and that it arrived as an effect of being stronger and healthier.
The third change is his schedule. This year he wants to compete in blocks to build rhythm. Morikawa said the “one week on, one week off” format broke his routine: between travel, physical work and commitments outside golf, a week at home is not seven real days. He prefers to string tournaments together, take advantage of the momentum and arrive with a consistent feel, not a reset one.
Focusing on this week, many experts recognise that this course should appeal to him, but the reality is that his record is far from dazzling. Five cuts made in six years speak to consistency, but the reality is he has only one top ten, which came precisely twelve months ago. We’ll see if the new version of Collin is ready to make the definitive leap and fight for the fifth Major.
