Collin Morikawa approach game peerless, pinpoint

Last week at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT, Collin Morikawa offered up a reminder of just how lethal his peak form can be.

Over the closing two rounds, Morikawa posted a bogey-free, 17-under-par score of 127. The five-time PGA TOUR winner missed only five greens in regulation over the finishing 42 holes, gaining more than 6.1 strokes on the field via his approach shots in that span. After shooting 62 on Sunday, Morikawa wound up one shot behind tournament winner Rory McIlroy.

Morikawa is among the pre-tournament favorites this week at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, where he’ll look for his third worldwide victory of the calendar year. Already a multiple major champion, Olympian and Ryder Cup winner, Morikawa is a rising superstar and should be on the sport’s marquee for years to come. But what truly distinguishes him is spectacular approach play, where he may go down as one of the best ever.

Strokes Gained: Approach

The 2021-22 TOUR season is the 19th in which Strokes Gained: Approach has been measured. Relative to the nearly two decades of this statistic, Morikawa has an average that is almost peerless.

For his career, Morikawa has a sterling Strokes Gained: Approach average of +1.03 per round. There are nearly 500 players with 100 or more ShotLink-measured rounds, all-time. Of that group, only Morikawa and Tiger Woods (+1.26) have an average of 0.80 per round or better for Strokes Gained: Approach.

Morikawa’s consistency in gaining strokes on the field with his approach play is maybe even more impressive. In the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season, 24.7% of all ShotLink-measured rounds had a player gaining 1.0 stroke or more with his approach play. For Morikawa’s career, he’s gained at least a full stroke in 50.8% of his rounds. His rate at gaining at least 2 strokes is even more staggering: while the TOUR average is 7.8%, Morikawa has racked up at least 2 full Strokes Gained: Approach in 27.9% of his measured rounds.

Morikawa had 25 rounds in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season in which he gained 2 or more strokes on the field with his approach play alone. No other player had more than 19 such rounds – Justin Thomas and Kyle Stanley each posted that total. Morikawa had an unreal 13 rounds where he gained at least 3 strokes on approach shots – five more than any other player (Hideki Matsuyama and Russell Henley each had eight).

In 2020-21, Morikawa averaged 1.17 Strokes Gained: Approach per round, best on the PGA TOUR. The difference in Morikawa’s per round average and number two on the list, Paul Casey (0.895 per round), was equivalent to the gap between Casey and number 17 on the list, Matsuyama (0.614).

Unmatched Precision

Last season, Morikawa pulled off a proximity-to-the-hole triple crown never previously seen on TOUR. Morikawa led the TOUR in average proximity to the hole from not just 125-150 yards away, but from 150-175 and 175-200, as well. This marked the first time in the nearly 20-year history of ShotLink-measured rounds that a player won the season-long statistical title in all three of those categories.

Morikawa’s biggest advantage over his peers comes from the 125-150 yard range. In 2020-21, he averaged 16 feet, 6 inches away on approach shots from that distance, a full foot-and-a-half better than anyone else (Matsuyama). The TOUR’s average proximity to the hole from that distance is 23 feet, 2 inches – meaning on average, Morikawa was putting from nearly 7 feet closer than the field in those situations.

Morikawa’s advantage over the field is not quite as vast – but still significant – from the other two yardage ranges. From 150-175 yards, Morikawa’s average proximity (23 feet, 10 inches) is nearly 4 feet closer than the PGA TOUR mean. From 175-200 away, the advantage is about 6 feet.

When The Putting Clicks

We know Morikawa’s iron play is almost always on point – in his young PGA TOUR career, he’s had positive Strokes Gained: Approach in more than 70% of his rounds – but what about when the putter cooperates? A season ago, Morikawa ranked 178th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting, by far his least flattering statistic.

As you might expect, when his putter is even average, Morikawa is borderline unstoppable. He has had positive Strokes Gained: Putting in 46.9% of his career rounds on TOUR. In those rounds, his scoring average is an unreal 67.5. When he gains half-a-stroke or more on the greens (as he’s done in 35.2% of his career rounds), his scoring average dips to a sparkling 67.1.

Morikawa has ranked 15th or better in Strokes Gained: Putting just six times in TOUR events where the stat was tracked in all four rounds. His finishes? Three wins, two runner-up finishes, and one 6th.

Already a transcendent talent from tee-to-green, a consistently above-average putting Morikawa would be a terrifying proposition to his fellow competitors.