• Chronicle.Morikawa bursts into world golf to stay

Two months before Tiger Woods would revolutionize golf forever with his heart-pounding, historic win at the 1997 Augusta Masters, Collin Morikawa was coming to this world. As fate would have it, during the Farmers Insurance in January, Morikawa shared a round with Tiger for the first time, becoming the first rival of the 15-major winner born after his professional start. Half a year later, with a pandemic involved, that circumstantial opponent of Tiger is the new champion of the PGA Championship.

Descendant of Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii, Morikawa was born in California, specifically in Los Angeles. At the age of eight, her father signed her up for classes at a small golf course in Glendale. So far everything normal, a story that repeats itself every day in various parts of the world: a father takes a son to join a sport. The difference in this case came when his teacher, Rick Sessinhaus , saw the boy's skill with the sticks. He realized that little Collin was not one of the hundred children who had passed through his hands to get into the practice of golf. However, no one else gave importance to him and his life passed normally between studies and a growing passion: golf.

Morikawa entered the University of Berkeley, one of the most prestigious in the world and number one in the United States. 107 Nobel laureates, 20 Hollywood Oscars, 11 Pulitzer prizes and, since yesterday, a winner of a golf major have come out of its classrooms. From now on, the prestigious American institution will not only be able to boast that up to six chemical elements from the periodic table were discovered in its laboratories, but also that a champion came out of its golf course who, in addition, passed the Administration degree with flying colors of Companies.

With only 14 months as a professional, Morikawa has accumulated almost seven million dollars in prizes in 29 tournaments, where he has already achieved three victories, figures only comparable to those of the best in history. Coincidentally, Tiger's first major, the 1997 Augusta Masters, came in the 29th tournament of his career.

For Morikawa, the 2019 US Open was his first major. He qualified from the previous ones and decided that the tournament at Pebble Beach would be his first round in the world of professional golf. He finished in the top 35 and, seven tournaments later, has scored his first win. In his first 22 tournaments, he did not miss a single cut, approaching Tiger's all-time record (25). At the second attempt in a major, he achieved the final victory. At the age of 23, there are only four players that age or younger who have managed to win a PGA Championship: Jack Nicklaus , Tiger Woods and Rory McIIlroy . All giants.

Morikawa somehow embodies the resurrection of classic golf, perhaps in danger of extinction. We are talking about a player who does not reach an average distance of 270 meters and who is beyond the 100th place in the power ranking of the PGA Tour. Despite this disadvantage, it is capable of putting similar results on the table. Data that gains even more value amid a landscape in which DeChambeau , Wolf , Koepka and company are determined to demonstrate that the new order of world golf is to hit the ball as hard as possible from the tee. Morikawa's rules, on the other hand, are based more on balance, regularity and short game, a universal path that always paid well to its defenders on the golf courses.

The most impressive thing about his Sunday at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco was not the victory itself, but the way it was achieved. Few times in a final round of a major has such a determined and self-confident winner been seen, so abundant in each stroke and each gesture, which reminded for a few moments the Tiger of the beginning of the 21st century. Part of the blame for this improper self-confidence for his age and career lies with the mental work he has developed since he was a child.

"The ability to control your mind requires the same training as a six-foot putt," he confessed a few weeks ago after dethroning Justin Thomas in an incredible playoff at the Workday Charity Open. On the 72nd hole he made a decisive twenty-foot putt. Weeks ago, on the other hand, at the Charles Schwab Challenge, he lost the tournament after failing a putt of just over five feet. "Everything is learning", he valued without drama then. His mixture of Asian blood comes out in the acts and speech of this wise young man, who is already the fifth best player in the world. And up...

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