This week is the first time the Californian
has been referred to as the “reigning Race to Dubai champion” and he likes
that, too.
“There’s a lot of weight that’s on (my)
shoulders right now,” Morikawa said on Tuesday. “It’s a great weight to have
and I want to come back as strong as ever.”
The first U.S. golfer to finish a season as
No. 1 on the European tour, Morikawa is back in the Middle East to start the
defense of a year-long title he claimed so memorably in Dubai in November.
He’s down the United Arab Emirates’
coastline this time, making his first appearance at the Abu Dhabi Championship
— an event that, to many, marks the start of the European tour.
And for Morikawa, it’s about maintaining
the high standards he set in the first couple of years as a professional, even
though that is a big ask for someone already with two majors and standout Ryder
Cup debut on his résumé.
“It’s a very unusual 2 1/2 years of turning
pro for me, obviously with COVID and a lot of other things in the world,” said
Morikawa, who won the U.S. PGA Championship in 2020. “It’s just embracing being
in the present — I think that’s the biggest thing, is how I enjoy the time
wherever I am in the world.”
He has seen quite a bit of the world in
recent months, too. Just take the location of his last five events: The CJ Cup
in South Korea; the Zozo Championship in Japan; the World Tour Championship in
the UAE; the World Challenge in the Bahamas; and, most recently, the Tournament
of Champions in Hawaii.
Morikawa hasn’t finished lower than seventh
in that period, and is ranked No. 2. He missed the opportunity to go to No. 1
by squandering a five-shot lead heading into the final round in the Bahamas and
finishing tied for fifth, an improbable turn of events for a player who has
proved to be so assured under pressure.
As someone who often appears and sounds
wise beyond his 24 years, it’s no surprise to hear he took that experience as a
positive.
“I get over things pretty easily, and I
think for me it’s motivation, right?” Morikawa said. “How do I learn off these
bad events and how do I, you know, if I miss a cut or whatever it may be, how
do I not have that happen again?
“I don’t look at it as highs and lows. I
think that’s for me the wrong way of how I put it in my head. For me, it’s just
you have a good week, you have a bad week, things happen and that’s what we
do.”
Viktor Hovland overhauled Morikawa to win
in the Bahamas and is also in the stacked field this week at Yas Links, which
has taken over from Abu Dhabi Golf Club as the host of the Abu Dhabi
Championship, with its $8 million prize fund.
Also playing is Rory McIlroy, who was last
seen on the European tour photographed in a ripped T-shirt soon after his
final-round meltdown that let in Morikawa to win in Dubai.
Adam Scott and defending champion Tyrrell
Hatton are other big names teeing off on Thursday to start their 2022 seasons.
The tour is resuming after its 2022 season
launch was halted after just one of the three planned events in South Africa
late last year because of the outbreak of the omicron variant of the
coronavirus.
Morikawa said the conditions at Yas Links
will be tough because of the narrow fairways, the strong winds predicted for
the end of the week, and the nature of the undulating greens.
Especially in light of the recent ban on
heavily detailed green-reading books that is now in force.
“When you have greens like this and you
have a lot of new slopes and you have to learn a golf course, I’m going to have
to do my homework,” Morikawa said. “I’m going to have to spend a little more
time out there preparing and learning what to do because if I don’t know where
a slope is and I somehow hit it there and I’m a little surprised, that’s going
to be a problem for the entire week.”