Collin Morikawa has repeatedly found himself on the cusp of contention at The Masters throughout his career.
The two-time major winner has fallen just short of really throwing his hat in the ring. Morikawa has three top tens and two top fives in his six appearances at Augusta, but the closest he’s come was in 2022, when he was six shots off the lead.
Morikawa’s consistently accurate iron play should make him a perennial contender at The Masters. But there’s a key reason why he hasn’t been able to claim the Green Jacket, and it’s something that Jack Nicklaus found out early in his career, thanks to an injury.
Brandel Chamblee names the reason Collin Morikawa has problems at Augusta National
While Morikawa is a consistently accurate iron player, he isn’t a versatile one. He only really has one shot shape in his arsenal, a fade, which will quickly leave you exposed at Augusta.
That’s why Morikawa falls just short at The Masters, according to Brandel Chamblee, who thinks the 11th hole will always give him nightmares.
Speaking to Indo Sport, he said, “Collin Morikawa will probably be in my three favorites. I may well pick him to win this year. I may, but he has a real big problem on certain holes like the 11th. Because he doesn’t comfortably draw the golf ball.
“So he gets to 11, he drives it down there. He’s got that hook lie, and you need to be able to aim at the right edge of that green and either hit it straight there or draw it in, or maybe if you are really feeling frisky, at the middle of the bunker back behind the green, but no more left than that.
“And because he doesn’t comfortably draw the golf ball, he’s got to aim more left. And time and time again, he finds the water. He’s 14 over par on that hole for his career. Now, it’s a tough hole. It’s a tough hole for everybody, but it’s devastating to him.
“So, if you told me that Collin Morikawa was going to play 11, even par for the week, I may well pick him to win the golf tournament. But that’s how important it is to be able to work the ball directions.”
To win The Masters, you need to have every shot in the bag at your disposal, and it took an injury early in Nicklaus’ career for him to discover this.
How Jack Nicklaus discovered that he needed a draw to win The Masters
Nicklaus won The Masters for the first time in 1963 on his fourth attempt, and he did so while carrying an injury. Chamblee told the story of how this injury forced him to develop a new shot, which helped him win the tournament.
He said, “Even Jack Nicklaus won the Masters in ‘ 63. And he said one of the reasons he won The Masters that year is because he had some bursitis in his left hip and it was painful enough that it slowed his rotation down.
“And he said, ‘So, because it slowed my rotation down, I could more easily hit these high draws.’ And it matters at a few spots there. It matters, you know, that you can do that at two. It would help at five, it helps at nine, it helps at 10, it helps at 13, and it helps at 14.
“So, this is the thing that makes Augusta National so so much of a thorough test is that it requires doesn’t require, but you’re greatly benefited by some high draws off the tee and then some high cuts off local eyes. And that’s a tough thing to do. It’s a really tough thing to do.
“And most of these players today are pushed so hard by their statisticians to rely on one shot. Find one shot and they’ll give you the dispersion cones that greatly increase when you try to change your one shot. They’ll show it to you on the data.
“And while I get that’s the way to play the hand of poker. Okay, I get that’s the odds. That’s the poker game. And that’s basically what these statisticians are basing the game on. That’s not the highest level that the game can be played at.
“It’s a safe way to play the game. It’s probably the safest way to play the game, but it’s not the highest level that the game can be played at. The highest level that the game can be played at is by pursuing and becoming very fluent in all nine shots.
“The high cut, high draw, the high straight shot, the low draw, the low cut, and every shot in between. Tiger Woods had that, and it was why he dominated. Scottie Scheffler has that, and it’s why he dominates. It’s a difficult thing to do because you could just hit this fade, fade, fade all day long.
“You’re like, what? Why do I need to hit a draw? Well, because of the 11th hole at Augusta National, on your second shot, and because of the tee-shot at 13 and because of the tee-shot at two, it helps to be able to hit a high draw. It’s so interesting. Long may it continue.”
Interestingly, Morikawa is carrying an injury that he sustained at The Players. He hasn’t teed off since and withdrew from the Texas Open. But if he does play at The Masters, maybe he’ll slow his swing down and develop a draw too.
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