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Phil Casey
Defending US PGA Champion Collin Morikawa enjoys the full schedule for big championships as he seeks more career-defining wins at the biggest golf events.
Morikawa’s win at Harding Park in last year took place in August but was still the first major of the new season due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Open Championship was canceled, the US Open in September and the Masters in November.
As the sports world gradually returns to normal, the U.S. PGA is returning to its May date in 2019 and also to the Kiawah Island venue in 2012, where Rory McIlroy stormed to an eight-shot victory.
Morikawa was still in school then and didn’t see the course until the day after finishing 18th in the Masters, but the 24-year-old is firm in favor of having a major every month from April to July.
« Oh, I love it, » said the world number six. “We love majors. We try to win that.
« Now that I’ve had one, you realize why guys want to win majors, why big championships define what a player’s résumé will look like at the end of their career.
» I want that energy feels like competing with nine holes remaining and five holes remaining and getting a great shot. That’s what we live for. We love to do that. «
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With a maximum of 7,876 meters, Kiawah Island is the longest course in the history of the great championship, and the coastal layout designed by Pete Dye promises a tough test for the best players in the world.
« I think it’s definitely a forwards course, » added Morikawa. “You have to be able to control your ball. You have to be able to do different shots, work left to right, right to left, and that suits me.
« The greens are pretty small, but man, talk about that back nine, starting with hole nine and after that, it’s a very good final stretch of golf, especially with the wind it picked up. You will be at tested every shot.
« I hit a couple of six, five, four irons in green and even had a couple of five woods. You can’t get really lazy on any of these shots. You can’t take anything for granted as it is you is sure to bite the butt.
« Luckily I saw it and got a head start on how it will be because I know it will be difficult now.
« If I showed up on a Monday, as I normally would before this event, it would actually take me a little longer on this course because it’s so unique on the second hits, where you have to hit it, where you have to miss it.
« We talked about it, I guess they’re not called bunkers, the sandy areas, the garbage bunkers. We usually like bunkers (but) you don’t really know what kind of lies you’re going to get so we have to meet readjust and find out what is the best strategy out there for getting some birdies. ”
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