Master of change: Collin Morikawa tweaks his way into contention

AUGUSTA, Ga. — A swing thought. That’s as detailed as Collin Morikawa will get about the “something” that he and his coaches “found” in his swing on Monday here at Augusta National.

“I’m not going to let you know,” Morikawa said with a mischievous grin Saturday. “I need it to work one more day.”

Whatever it was, five days later it is still working and it has fueled Morikawa’s ascent to the top of the leaderboard at the Masters. The 27-year-old Californian fired low-drama round of 69 Saturday to play himself into the final pairing of the 88th Masters.

Morikawa sits in second place, just a stroke off the pace set by leader Scottie Scheffler, who’s at 7-under par.

There certainly were no indications Morikawa was about to get things right coming to Augusta. He entered his eighth event of the 2024 season on the heels of one of the poorest stretches of his professional golf career.

Morikawa drove up Magnolia Lane fresh off a 75th-place finish at the Valero Open in San Antonio. That followed a T-45 at The Players and the second of his two missed cuts this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Morikawa’s scoring average of 70.43 ranked 109th on Tour and he was a pedestrian 43rd in the FedEx Cup standings entering this week.

Such a mediocre start was not at all the expectation coming into this season, especially after with a late October win in Japan. According to Data Golf, Morikawa’s 2023 season was his best year statistically by a wide margin. That means it was better than 2020, when he won the PGA Championship, and better than 2021, when he hoisted the British Open’s Claret Jug at Royal St. George’s.

Hence, the mysterious swing change on Monday.

“JJ (caddie Jonathan Jakovac) and I gave ourselves a high-five midway through our session because we found something that made sense in our heads, worked,” Morikawa said. “And that’s the thought we’ve continued throughout the rest of this week.

Viola! Morikawa improved 1.54 in strokes approaching the green.

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