Collin Morikawa, looking for more after historical year, has eye on being No. 1

Collin Morikawa had a historical 2021.

When he claimed the Claret Jug in the British Open at Royal St. George’s, he became the only player in history to win two different major championship debuts. He also joined Gene Sarazen, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth as the only players in the past 100 years to win multiple majors before turning 25.

And he became the first American to win the Race to Dubai when he won the DP World Tour Championship. He also won the WGC-Workday Championship at the Concession and was 3-0-1 and clinched the U.S. victory in his Ryder Cup debut.

Still, the world No. 2 wasn’t satisfied.

“It wasn’t everything that I wanted,” he said ahead of the start of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. “I think the consistency factor wasn’t quite there to what I’ve kind of harped on since turning pro.”

This coming from a guy who had 13 top-10s in 24 worldwide starts.

“Looking back there’s a lot of positives which I’m definitely going to make sure I continue to kind of feed off. I think you, that’s a big thing is, not just look at the negatives and not look at the down sides but is to look at the positives of what I’ve done well, and I’ve definitely been able to do that and how do improve from that,” Morikawa added. “But there’s also a lot of aspects that I want to keep working on and that’s what’s great about what we do.”

A laid-back Collin Morikawa visits the media Wednesday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. pic.twitter.com/p4U748n4Ag

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) January 5, 2022

Never being satisfied has fueled the 24-year-old, who capped his year by getting engaged to longtime girlfriend, Katherine Zhu. He’s always tinkering, always looking to improve, always looking for another triumph.

Drive for No. 1

After a long break, Morikawa starts work again Thursday on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, where he’s tied for seventh in each of his two previous starts. And among the many goals he’s aiming for is to become No. 1 in the world.

“It’s been a dream my entire life to get to No. 1 in the world, but it’s not just about getting to No. 1, it’s about sustaining that,” he said.

There are five scenarios this week in which Morikawa can overtake world No. 1 Jon Rahm, one being if he were to win and Rahm finishes worse than solo second.

“It’s all in my control. All I can do is try and win the tournament and that’s all I’m going to focus on,” Morikawa said. “It’s a huge goal, it always has been, and it means something that when you do get there it means you’re doing something right or at least a good amount of things right. It’s just about continuing that process and it’s not like that’s a peak, that I get to No. 1 and I can go retire and relax on the beach, like there are still so much things that I’m going to keep pushing myself when that, if or when that does happen.”