PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 9, 2020

Collin Morikawa

Harding Park Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. At 23, to do this, what does it mean to you, and what are your emotions?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: You know, I'm on Cloud Nine right now. It's hard to think about what this championship means, and obviously it's a major, and this is what guys go for, especially at the end of the their career, and we're just starting. 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. Obviously it was a very crowded leaderboard. At one point if you looked at the leaderboard it was all at 10-under and it was a party pretty much. So yeah, this one is going to be very special.

Q. How did you keep up with all that was going on, and what was the effect of a first major without a crowd?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I think without a crowd it plays very different. If there were thousands and thousands of people, I think everyone would have heard the shout on 16 for sure. Everyone would have heard birdies around the course a little more. So maybe it wouldn't have been as bunched up.

But whether crowds were here or not, I still had to get it done, so I'm really happy about what just happened.

Q. Two huge holes at 14 and 16. 14, what does the chip-in do for you, and take us through 16.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, 14 was huge. I'd been hitting really great iron shots into there starting from 12, 12 through 14, but the chip looked really good. My caddie J.J. told me, "let's chip it in," and that was the momentum I needed. We got to 16. He asked me what I wanted to do. I'm sure it was a split between hitting iron and going for it. Why not hit a great driver? Why not hit that little left-to-right shot with the wind helping off the left? I hit a great -- I just needed that one bounce to go forward, and it did, and those are shots that you've got to take opportunities, and that's what really separated me.

Q. Is it almost a fairy-tale tinge to it, a Cal kid winning at Harding Park?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, it is, being out here in San Francisco, I haven't been back since I graduated last year. So it's a pretty special place. It always will be. But to close it out out here at a course that I played a dozen times throughout college, it's really special.