'There's Great Players In Other Parts Of The World, And I Think We Miss That' - Morikawa Hoping Golf's Merger Goes Through

Collin Morikawa hopes an agreement is reached between Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the PGA Tour to bring the best players back together but is frustrated with the drawn-out nature of the negotiations.

As the new PGA Tour season gets underway at The Sentry, uncertainly remains surrounding the long-term future of the Tour as negotiations with the PIF continue.

In its latest update, the Tour announced that negotiations with the PIF and DP World Tour are ongoing after the initial deadline of December 31, 2023 was extended. Reports suggest that those involved hope to reach an agreement by the Players Championship and the two-time Major champion certainly hopes that is the case.

"I read up on everything that's going on, but at this point, all you can do is just play your best golf and show up and see what happens," the American said. 

"I hope everything comes together and we're able to all play together at some point in some time in some way, but there's so much back and forth, the e-mails we get is, it's all fluff. Like, there's no point in reading these e-mails anymore that we get. Players are saying one thing and then they say something else some other time.

"At this point, I think just deals need to be made and we all need to get back to playing golf. It is what it is. Guys make their decision to go one way, I've never had an issue with it, I've never had an issue with anything. Everyone makes their own decision. But I do miss playing with everyone at one time. 

"That's why the majors have been fun over the past year, two years. Not that they're not fun, but it's nice to see some of these guys, right, because it's, that was normal when I turned pro. I never thought it was going to be anything different. 

"Not that it takes away from these fields, not that it takes away from the PGA Tour, but there are great players in other parts of the world, and I think we miss that."

As his focus turns to this week at the Sentry, the 26-year-old may be hoping to exercise some demons after his dramatic final round at Kapalua last year. Having led by six shots at the start of Sunday, the American was pipped to the post by a superb ten-under-par final round from Jon Rahm.

Morikawa enjoyed his best year on Tour from a statistical standpoint but won just once - in October at the Zozo Championship. Heading into the new season, the World No. 13 has only one thing on his mind: winning.

"I don't care [about the stats]. If I was No. 1 in putting, it doesn't mean anything if I'm not winning. If that's all I cared about and that's what I wanted to accomplish for the year, then yeah, but my goals aren't set like that. For me, it's wins and consistency," Morikawa explained.

"I mean, at the end of the year, you could miss 20 cuts and have one win or win a major and you're like, man, yeah, my year might have been pretty shitty for 99 per cent of it, but that one per cent makes up for it. 

"When you're able to accomplish the wins -- you know, wins can come in many fashions, right? You could win playing well, you can win playing poorly, you can win having lucky breaks, but when those things come together, there's no better feeling."