How Collin Morikawa’s new pre-shot routine is helping him contend at The Sentry

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Collin Morikawa finished second in the FedExCup last season, the best showing of his career, but his lack of a victory in 2024 soured his opinion of his performance.

Only three players had more top-10s than Morikawa’s eight last year, and two of them, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele are Nos. 1 and 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Morikawa was runner-up at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday last year and had top-fives at the Masters (T3) and PGA Championship (T4). He also posted the low 72-hole score at the TOUR Championship to finish second to Scheffler in the FedExCup. But he didn’t achieve his ultimate goal.

“I didn't win,” Morikawa said. “For me it was a solid year, but it comes down to the wins, and that's what we're focused on.”

Morikawa’s high standards are understandable. In 2019, he won in his sixth start as a professional. He won two majors, the 2020 PGA Championship and The 2021 Open Championship, over the following two seasons. He’s won just once in the 3 1/2 years since lifting the claret jug, though. His sixth, and most recent, PGA TOUR victory came at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in October 2023.

Morikawa’s winless 2024 is one reason he spent his two-month offseason tinkering and experimenting. The 27-year-old was hoping to find the little tweak that got him back into the winner’s circle. One result of his trial-and-error is a new pre-shot routine that has Morikawa back to what he does best, hitting accurate iron shots, at this week’s season-opening The Sentry.

A couple weeks ago, Morikawa started mimicking his impact position before starting his swing. He now turns his left hip slightly open while driving his right knee toward the ball. It’s a move that also was used by players like Sam Snead as a trigger to start their swing. For Morikawa, it ingrains his preferred impact position, where the hips are more open to the target than his shoulders.

“Just kind of allowing the body to get to where it needs to be in the shot,” Morikawa said Thursday. “It's been working, which has been nice. It wasn't a two-day thing and then throw it in the trash.”

Morikawa has hit 52 of 54 greens in regulation through the first three rounds of The Sentry. That’s three more than anyone else in the field and one off the TOUR record for most greens hit in the first three rounds of an event (Mike Heinen and Brad Faxon hit 53 at the 1991 Walt Disney World Classic and 1995 Farmers Insurance Open, respectively). Morikawa also ranks third in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green this week.

His accurate iron play is a big reason why he’ll enter The Sentry’s final round in second place, just one stroke behind leader Hideki Matsuyama. Morikawa is at 26-under 193 (66-65-62) after matching Matsuyama’s 11-under 62 on Saturday. They’ve pulled away from the pack, as Thomas Detry is alone in third place but five back of Matsuyama and four behind Morikawa.

Morikawa quickly established himself as one of the TOUR’s top iron players after turning pro in 2019. He ranked in the top three of Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green in each of his first four full season before dropping to 42nd in that metric last season.

Morikawa said this week that a 2023 back injury impacted his ability to rotate through impact, one of the hallmarks of his swing. This new pre-shot routine allows him to trust that he can turn the way he needs to and create the necessary separation between his lower body and upper body. At impact, the hips are traditionally more open to the target than the shoulders.

“Your body's used to certain positions, and we do so much repetition with our bodies, that sometimes you just build bad patterns,” Morikawa said. “I just had to tell myself that I can kind of rotate and stay in that position and that's all (the pre-shot routine) is really doing. I'm not thinking about it. It's saying, ‘OK, you're safe to go there, just let it go.’ And it's been nice to see the cut has been back a little bit more with a little bit more space.”

Rotating his hips allows Morikawa to turn his upper body through impact and square the face that way instead of using his hands. That allows him to hit his trusty left-to-right shot that is key to his accurate iron play.

“For me, it's turn hard and hold the face,” Morikawa said. “So all of last year there were good parts, but it still didn't feel like I could just kind of throw darts, and we're slowly getting back to that, which is nice.”

So far at The Sentry, he’s done just that.