What happened to Colin Morikawa? Discover the main hints behind the stunning decline

To say golfers who competed in the Ryder Cup just a few months ago are experiencing a decline may be a harsh assessment.

But going a little beyond this basic fact, it’s fair to ask why a player who won two of his first eight majors hasn’t won anything on American soil in nearly five years.

This person is Colin Morikawa.

The California native is still considered an elite performer, but will he be one of those budding prodigies whose star is fading?

Let’s start with the Ryder Cup and work backwards.

Morikawa fails at Bethpage

Although Sunday’s singles action was better, it was a forgettable week for the Americans in New York.

But when the dust settled, the results were clear. No one on the American side performed worse than Morikawa.

He played in three games but only scored half a point.

This is in stark contrast to the last time the United States hosted the tournament. That was the 2021 tournament at Whistling Straits, and Morikawa played four games, winning three, halving another and ending the week as the tied second-leading scorer in Team USA’s dominant victory.

Perhaps most concerning is that his failure at Bethpage was not surprising.

Ahead of Opening Day, Datagolf ran the numbers and found Morikawa and Harris English ranked 132nd out of 132 possible best foursomes pairings for Team USA.

So it happened. They were sent out twice and failed twice more.

After Morikawa was awarded a wild-card selection before the tournament, Golf365 offered this conclusion: “Morikawa is a reputable pick, but is he really in good enough shape? The jury is still out. In the final 14 events of the season, Morikawa had just one top-10 finish: a low-key eighth at the Rocket Classic. Coupled with his low ranking of 141st in gained putting, Morikawa wasn’t the guy many people had locked down.”

Morikawa is professional

Morikawa won the 2020 PGA Championship in just his third major.

In his eighth tournament, he celebrated by winning the Open title in his first tournament.

From the 2020 PGA to the 2022 US Open, Morikawa participated in nine major championships. He won two races, placed in the top five in three others, and also finished eighth in the process.

It was an amazing run.

Tiger went through 12 majors in his career before winning two majors.

Morikawa is on a ridiculous path.

But fast forward to this year’s majors, and there are signs of further decline.

Morikawa finished 14th at the Masters, 50th at the PGA Championship, 23rd at the U.S. Open, and missed the cut at the Open.

Caddy replacement hints at trouble

Changing caddies is a common occurrence in every golfer’s career.

Tiger has done this several times, and the circumstances vary widely.

But when someone changes salespeople five times in one year, it seems like they’re asking for help.

Morikawa did just that.

After splitting with longtime caddy JJ Jakovac in April, he’s been through four more breakups: Joe Greiner, Billy Foster, KK Limbhasut and Mark Urbanek. He ultimately decided to choose the latter for the Ryder Cup.

It all points to a confused mind as he tries to find the elusive spark

World ranking drops

At the end of 2024, Morikawa was ranked fourth in the official World Golf Rankings.

He’s now ranked 10th, showing a decline, but not quite a drastic one.

However, OWGR does not take into account the performance of LIV and uses a two-year rolling system, which may slowly pick up or decline.

Many gamers now consider the Datagolf world rankings to be more accurate. They do accept LIV results and give more weight to the latest results.

At Datagolf, Morikawa finds himself currently ranked 27th, one spot below England’s Aaron Rai.

Looking at his ranking chart, the drop is huge.

In Morikawa’s own words

So what does he think of his most disappointing year since turning pro?

Here’s what he had to say after ranking his performance at the season-ending Tour Championship after finishing a rather modest 14th out of 30 events.

“It’s the same as last year. There’s some good, some bad, some surviving. That’s what it is this year. There just have to be some changes. As much as I don’t want to change, I have to change.

“It’s been a frustrating few years and I feel like I went into it all with a positive attitude and then looking back, could I have done better? This is who I am. It’s a little unfortunate to end the year like this.

“Got to keep digging. Wake up every day and keep figuring it out.”

Morikawa’s last victory on American soil was the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship in February 2021 in Florida.

Indeed, he won the Open at Royal St. George’s in England later that year and won the 2023 PGA Tour ZOZO Championship in Japan.

But now it looks like his drought will last until 2026.

Time has been good for Morikawa – he’s still only 28 – but as more young talent continues to emerge, capturing that early magic will only become more difficult.

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