LOS ANGELES — Collin Morikawa, a California native, is fired up for the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
The two-time major champ went to Berkeley for his college golf at Cal, but he’s an L.A. guy, saying Tuesday the house he grew up in is about a 45-minute drive from LACC, though he did say say that was on a Sunday with not a lot of traffic.
“Stayed at my parents’ house on Saturday night,” he said. “Every time I come back to L.A., it’s my favorite spot in the world. It’s always going to be home for me no matter where I live, no matter where I move to.
“There’s just that extra added touch, specialness when you’re playing at home, when you’re playing in the state of California for me.”
He talked about a variety of topics during his media session, and he was eventually asked about So-Cal golf legend Tiger Woods.
“For me growing up that’s all I cared about,” Morikawa said as he talked about Tiger’s impact on the game. “It’s been amazing to get to know guys like Rory [McIlroy] and Jordan [Spieth] and JT [Justin Thomas] and all these guys, but I didn’t care about them when I was growing up,” he quipped. “I really didn’t. People ask me about the history of Rory winning this or Rory. … certain guys winning this. I didn’t really care. I only cared about Tiger.”
Hey, you gotta love his honesty.
“It was amazing at least my first couple years getting to play with him a few times, getting some pairings with him. That’s the coolest thing you can dream of.”