'I Could Care Less What He Says' - Morikawa Responds To Immelman Comments

Despite being only 25-years-old, Collin Morikawa possesses a resume that most golfers would be envious of. A winner of two Major championships, the PGA Championship and Open Championship, he became just the second ever player, alongside Tiger Woods, to make the cut in the first 20 starts of his professional career.

Since his victory at the 2021 DP World Tour Championship though, Morikawa hasn't seen his name on a trophy, with the American going a year without a title. Despite this, he has still put in a number of fantastic performances but, on Saturday, following his third round at the World Wide Technology Championship, Golf Channel's Todd Lewis asked him a question related to comments made by Trevor Immelman.

The question from Lewis was along the lines of Immelman's comment that Morikawa "came out and played so well early in his career that was possibly his bar, his standard, did he go through that?"

Initially, Morikawa smiled at the question, before going on a slight rant, with the two-time Major winner stating: "Wow, that's hard to hear from him. To be honest, I could care less what he says there because I don't think that's my bar."

He went on to add "I think I've got so much more to improve. I've been near last on putting and I don't think I've even finished close to being average on putting. If I just get my putting to be average I think there is so much more to improve. So, I don't know, I don't know where that came from but that kind of stings there, I don't like to hear that."

Lewis did claim that Immelman "made it as a compliment that you had played so well." However, Morikawa didn't see it that way, responding: "I don't know if that was a compliment, I'll be honest. If he did, maybe it came off wrong from what I heard.

"For me, I've never seen a ceiling. I just want to keep improving. Obviously we took a couple of steps back this year but it's just trying to get better every day and improve on little things. I expect myself to play well, I set high goals for myself and it just sucks when they don't come through."

Following Morikawa's rant, Immelman, who was in the commentary box listening to what the American had to say, claimed it was a miscommunication, with the 2008 Masters winner stating that he would phone Morikawa that evening to explain his wording. 

During the 2021/22 PGA Tour season, Morikawa secured two runner-up finishes, as well as eight top 10s. He also qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and advanced to the Tour Championship for a third straight year, with the American earning a spot on the Presidents Cup team, where he picked up two wins and one defeat.