PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Who’s the best iron player on the PGA Tour? It’s a great water cooler debate. Two names generally jump to the top of the list: Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa.
Thomas, 27, has been inside the top six in Strokes Gained: Approach every year since the 2016-17 season and ranked first in 2019-20 (he was also first from 125-150 yards that season). Morikawa, 24, ranked first in 2020-21 (he was first from 125-150 yards, 150-175 yards, and 175-200 yards, which is very Tigeresque).
Last week at the Players, Morikawa and Thomas were grouped together when howling wind made TPC Sawgrass nearly unplayable. On Saturday, Thomas and Morikawa had the unenviable task of playing the iconic par-3 17th twice in the worst of the wind. Small sample size, but Thomas found the green and made two pars while Morikawa hit two balls in the water and had to scramble to salvage bogeys. Advantage, Thomas?
Valspar: Thursday tee times | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+
“It was so good because he had so much control over the golf ball and I’ve had those rounds and I feel like I can have a lot more of those rounds, but when it called for it, I didn’t,” Morikawa said of Thomas, who fired one of three bogey-free rounds.
But the best on Tour? Morikawa had another name in mind.
“JT’s iron game I’ve loved and I’ve admired, but to me, I still think Tiger has the best iron game. Like, even now,” Morikawa said. “When we had our TaylorMade shoots and you would see him out there and I’d talk to him and we did a little 10-minute video of watching him hit irons, it is amazing.”
What was it like to witness a Tiger stripe show?
“The guy had every shot on command. I can pull off those shots, but can I do it 10 out of 10 times? No, Tiger can,” Morikawa said of Woods, who was first from 50-125 yards in 2004, the first year that Strokes Gained statistics were tracked, and first in SG: Approach to the Green in 2006, ‘07, ‘09, 2012, and ’13. “You could tell that he knew exactly what he was going to do and he came out exactly in the same window and it was so simple. Like, we want to make it that simple but sometimes for me cut shot comes easier than a draw. I’m working to hit that draw probably a little more than he’s working to hit the draw. It was just so efficient. It was so easy. And that’s how you want to make golf.”
Both Thomas and Morikawa have a long way to go to be in the same stratosphere as Woods, but with Tiger currently sidelined, Thomas and Morikawa are lead dogs as far as active players.
“Do I think (Thomas is) better?” Morikawa said. “I mean, I still think when my iron game’s on, like, it’s better than everyone. It would be bad for me to think otherwise because then I’m showing up to these events thinking, OK, I’ve got to do everything so perfect. Like, I still think I can still play an OK game and still get away with a week and possibly win.”
Morikawa said that he’s still guilty of having ups and downs in his ball-striking, noting that when he played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on the DP World Tour earlier this year, “my game was the worst probably it has been for two years.”
Morikawa shot down any concerns that there would be any lingering effects from getting blown away at the Players and missing his first cut of the season. Morikawa showed up on Monday at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort with his caddie J.J. Jakovac, grabbed a 7-iron to mimic the tee shot at TPC 17 that bedeviled him on Saturday, and quickly put the last week to bed.
“Will I be spooked? I don’t know,” Morikawa said of potential for scar tissue at TPC’s 17th. “I mean, I had great bogeys. I mean, I joked around. Like, I probably should have laid up and I would have made 3.”
[listicle id=778254928]
[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]