Collin Morikawa does 'deep dive' in bid to regain winning form in Dubai

Collin Morikawa famously bounced back from a disappointing display in the Scottish Open last year to become Open champion the following week.
Collin Morikawa talks to the media ahead of this week's Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club. Picture: Luke Walker/Getty Images.Collin Morikawa talks to the media ahead of this week's Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club. Picture: Luke Walker/Getty Images.
Collin Morikawa talks to the media ahead of this week's Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club. Picture: Luke Walker/Getty Images.

But the American reckons he arrived in Dubai this week with a tougher task on his hands in a bid to pull off another transformation in a short space of time.

Morikawa, the world No 2, finished outside the top 60 in last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, having actually packed his bags after opening rounds of 73-74 at Yas Links before surprisingly making the cut.

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That was the only positive he took from the Rolex Series event, though, and the Californian is determined to give a better account of himself in this week’s Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic.

“I have a lot to work on,” he declared, speaking at Emirates Golf Club. “Spent all afternoon yesterday working. It was probably the hardest and longest I've worked in a while pre tournament on a Monday, but it's good.

“Sometimes you need to have that kind of reset button and really figure out and dive deep. I had my agent and my caddie theree and we were on the range for hours trying to figure out what to do.

“We know what's not working. It's just trying to get back to my old swing and trying to get back to what I know I can do. So I still have a couple things I've got to work out and feel, but I'm in a much better position right now, at least if I had to go play tomorrow versus where I was last week.”

Morikawa finished outside the top 70 in last year’s Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, but he then went out and produced a polished performance from start to finish to win the 140th Open the following week at Royal St George’s.

“You know, the Scottish is weird because I felt like everything was actually really good,” he recalled of that spectacular turnaround in fortune. “I had just blamed it on my clubs, which normally it's not the case, but I was thinking, ‘you know, I made my iron switch, I made a little putter switch’.

“So there were certain things there that the game felt good. Last week, the game didn't feel good. I didn't know where the golf ball was going and I had to kind of figure that out, so yesterday was much needed.”

Has such a work ethic always been in his nature? “Look, it all comes from inside, my self-belief of trying to get better and trying to get to No 1 in the world, trying to beat everyone out here,” said Morikawa, who won the DP World Tour Championship in November on his last visit here.

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“It's never, I need to push myself because I played poorly. It's because I want to come out and play the best and possibly win the tournament.

“So, when you have weeks like that, right, when you have bad weeks, you have to forget but you also have to remember that it's going to happen, you're not always going to play amazing.

“But you try and have those bottoms not be as low as missing cuts or finishing at the bottom of leaderboard or whatever it may be. Last week was a big learning experience.”

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