Tokyo Olympics: Pro-golfer Colin Morikawa flies to Tokyo after winning the British Open

U.S. GOLF

Collin Morikawa will shoot for a medal  for the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics.

Collin Morikawa is peaking at the right time. After winning the British Open Championship Sunday, he's flying to Tokyo where he will join Danielle Kang as Asian American members of the U.S. Olympic Golf Team.

Morikawa, 24, is just the eighth golfer to win two majors before his 25th birthday. He won his first major, the PGA Championship, last summer. He also became the first golfer to ever win two different major championships on his first attempt.

Morikawa, who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a four-time PGA TOUR winner, including the 2020 PGA Championship in San Francisco and 2021 World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession. Morikawa has represented the U.S. as an amateur at the Arnold Palmer Cup (2017, 2018) and the Walker Cup (2017) but the upcoming Olympic Games will mark his first time representing the U.S. as a professional. Morikawa is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley.

As of this writing, Morikawa is the fourth-ranked golfer in the world. The other U.S. men golfers competing in Tokyo — Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau — are ranked third, fifth and sixth, respectively.

The women on Team USA are all ranked also: Nelly Korda (No. 1), Danielle Kang (No. 5), Lexi Thompson (No. 9) and Jessica Korda (No. 13).

Korean American Danielle Kang is on the U.S. Olympic Golf Team.

Kang, 28, is a five-time LPGA Tour winner, with her first victory coming in major fashion at the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. In 2020, she won back-to-back events when the LPGA Tour returned to play following its pandemic-related hiatus, and she led the Tour in scoring at 70.08. She represented the United States at the Solheim Cup in 2017 and 2019. Kang attended Pepperdine University and is a two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion (2010, 2011).

"Team USA will again have the largest contingent of players in the Olympic golf competition with eight of golf's stars giving the United States a strong chance at reaching the podium," said USA GOLF Executive Director Andy Levinson.

The men’s competition will take place from July 29-August 1 with the women following from August 4-7 at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kasahata, Saitama, Japan.

“This may not have been a dream as a kid since golf was never in the Olympics," said Morikawa, "but it’s a dream come true now. Tokyo bound, let’s go Team USA.”

23-year old Collin Morikawa wins the PGA Championship

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Collin Morikawa hoists the PGA Championship trophy.

He lives in Las Vegas now but for Collin Morikawa his first PGA Championship at San Francisco's Harding Park was a homecoming; it is where he played for the University of California, Berkeley for four years.

"I'm on Cloud Nine right now," Morikawa told CBS after his stunning win. "It's hard to think about what this championship means. Obviously, it's a major, and this is what guys go for, especially at the end of their career, and we're just starting." 

With this first major win, the third PGA tourney that he has won, Morikawa moved from last week's No. 12 spot to No. 5 in the world rankings. He also got to take home the prize of $1.98 million.

In his second year as a pro, Morikawa joins golf great and another Asian American, Tiger Woods, by winning his first PGA Championship Championship at the age of 23.

At his alma mater, Morikawa became Cal golf’s first four-time All-American, and graduated from the Haas School of Business with multiple honors.

"To be here, I wouldn't say surreal, it feels right, it feels like this is where I'm supposed to be," he said. 

"So I think this is just a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum, and it just gives me a little taste of what's to come. I got a taste of this now."