In just his third pro round at TPC Scottsdale, Collin Morikawa tied a course record for eagles in one round at the Phoenix Open.
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Collin Morikawa was playing college golf for Cal a year ago.
This week, he’s putting his name in the Waste Management Phoenix Open record book.
During Saturday’s third round, Morikawa eagled all three of the par-5 holes – the 3rd, the 13th and the 15th – and became the first golfer to do that since 1987, the first year the tournament was played at TPC Scottsdale.
“Yea, I’m very happy about it,” Morikawa, 22, said after his round. “You gotta score on the par 5s here obviously.”
His first eagle of the day came from the bunker.
“The first par 5, on 3, I didn’t really hit a great shot but got away with it and had a good lie in the bunker and just felt like I was going to make it. Then hit a good shot on 13, and 15 was a great shot as well. So I’m happy.”
Those are holes that the pros eagle with some regularity but you still can’t take them for granted.
“You still gotta hit the fairways. If you miss the fairways, you can be in the desert. So you still gotta take it shot-by-shot. Worry about that tee shot and then worry about everything else after that,” he said. “You know, fairways are important out here. You wanna be in the fairway, especially how firm the greens are getting.”
This is Morikawa 19th PGA Tour start. He played two of those as an amateur. The only time he’s missed the cut in a Tour event was at the 2016 Safeway Open when he was a 19-year-old amateur.
Most impressive? He won his first pro event in his sixth start, at the 2019 Barracuda Championship last July.
So how is he settling in to his pro career?
“I love it. I love every part of it. Since Day 1,” he said.
It helps that he’s yet to know the feeling of flying home on a Friday night after a missed cut as a pro.
So what’s the one thing he learned about being a pro that he didn’t know before he got his Tour card?
“That’s tough. Just, the way everything is set for us, we’ve got everything there,” Morikawa said and then added: “Building that team was something I never really thought about. I’m slowly building that team bigger and bigger.
“Start with my caddie. That’s a hard thing to find with a relationship, how are you going to work on the course. I think J.J. (Jakovac) is an awesome guy and I’m very lucky to have him on the bag and I think we have a lot of good rounds ahead of us.”
Morikawa is seeking his third top-10 finish of the season. He’ll start his final round at 9 under, seven shots back of the lead.
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