Collin Morikawa changed putter and coach, found a swing thought that’s working. Could a Masters win be next?

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Collin Morikawa is one solid round from winning the Masters and the third leg of the career Grand Slam. Morikawa shot 3-under 69 at Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday and sits alone in second place, one stroke behind 54-hole leader Scottie Scheffler.

Chasing down the world No. 1 is a tall task but given Morikawa’s recent form, he said he’s thrilled to be in the hunt for the green jacket.

“It was a little iffy coming in on Monday. But I spent a lot of time on the range on Monday, and (my caddie) and I gave ourselves a high-five midway through our session because we found something that made sense in our heads, worked. And that’s the thought we’ve continued throughout the rest of this week,” he said.

Morikawa refused to divulge his swing secret that has his iron game producing better results. Morikawa parted ways with his longtime swing coach Rick Sessinghaus in October and joined up with Mark Blackburn, but after paying quick dividends with a win at the Zozo Championship in Japan, that relationship has proven to be short-lived. Morikawa said he’s been hitting “aimlessly” for months, and he’s lost strokes in his approach game in each of his last three starts. The putter hasn’t been much better. He switched to a TaylorMade Spider mallet ahead of the Masters and said it felt great heading into the tournament.

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“Felt better than I’ve kind of felt all year. But sometimes you don’t know how it’s going to feel in the tournament,” Morikawa said.

During the first round, which stretched into Friday morning, Morikawa realized it wasn’t the club for him. He couldn’t wait to finish his first round and make a putter switch.

“I just wanted to get the putter out of my hands because I couldn’t get comfortable with it,” he said. “And thankfully I had a backup, a copy of what I’ve putted with in the past, pretty much the past year and a half. Felt like old times and nice to have that in the back again.”

It’s a lot of change between a putter, a coach and a new swing thought but so far it’s holding up.

“I had to search. You have to find something. You know, where my game was last week, if I took it out here, first few days, I probably wouldn’t be here. I probably wouldn’t be playing today. So you have to find something,” he said.

Asked how long he’s been searching for his trademark baby cut that helped him win the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 British Open, Morikawa said he’s been searching for something since the beginning of 2022.

“Got back from Dubai and something didn’t feel right,” he explained. “You know, some weeks are better than others. Some weeks, you find something, you hope it works and you hope it lasts for weeks and months, and sometimes it doesn’t.”

If Morikawa can come up big Sunday and don the green jacket, he would be the eighth player to win the Masters, PGA Championship and British Open, joining Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. He also would enter the  U.S. Open in June with a chance to complete the career Grand Slam.

Will he allow himself to think about wearing the green jacket on Sunday evening?

“If it doesn’t cross your mind, I don’t know what the hell your mind is thinking about,” Morikawa said. “When I grab that club out of the bag, I have to be able to execute those golf shots as best as I can, which is not thinking about the jacket.”