OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC

January 27, 2021

Collin Morikawa

Emirates Golf Club

Press Conference

TOM CARLISLE: Thank you joining us, Collin. Thank you very much for your time. Back in Dubai for the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic on The European Tour. Can you just give us your thoughts ahead of the week ahead?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, thanks everyone. I'm excited to be back. It's obviously a long trip over here from the West Coast, 12-hour time difference, but for me it's exciting, come out here and compete with some guys that I know and some guys that I've obviously seen a lot.

And this week is going to be a great test obviously. The course is in great shape for the most part, greens are a little iffy, but off the tee you have to hit some really good tee shots and you have to keep it in the fairway.

I look forward to it. Done some pretty good prep. Started off the year on a decent note, and look forward to having a solid week here.

TOM CARLISLE: You've started the year off strongly in Hawaii. How keen are you to carry that momentum through into the rest of the year?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, it's huge. Last fall I didn't really play great golf, and I think it really all started when I came back out here for the DP World Tour Championship and was able to notch a Top-10 and realise, okay, the game is somewhat trending in the right direction. Had to kind of do a little reset.

Obviously it was a new year. Set some new goals but I came prepared, came ready and I'm starting off the year hopefully on a really strong foot for the rest of the year.

Q Just strikes me that you've been to Hawaii, you're now in the Middle East. There can be very few individuals in the current climate who have more air miles than you this year. I just wonder, given the current situation that everyone is living in, the challenges of travel and all of that, did you have any second thoughts? Was it a tough decision to make this kind of journey?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: No, I'm just trying to play golf in really great weather -- no, I'm kidding (laughing).

You know what, this has been an event I kind of knew I was going to come out and play. There were no second thoughts. Obviously with what's going on with COVID and regulations and bans to travel in and out of countries, you just have to be aware and stay up-to-date with what's coming at us. You never know. Now we have to test coming back in. But for my sake, the people around me, my team, all we're trying to do is be as safe as possible.

I think The European Tour has done an amazing job with this bubble. It's very different; I said it last time I was out here, it's very different than what we have in the US. But they are doing it right. Guys aren't testing positive and even though we're stuck in our hotel rooms and out on the golf course, at the end of the day, we can come out here and play some golf, which is everything we could ask for.

Q Going back maybe ten or 15 years, it always seems as though American players come July were never too aware of Ryder Cup standings, etc.; it seemed as though the event was never big to them. This is a Ryder Cup year again this year. What does that event mean to you to play in that, to be a winner in that? Just your thoughts on The Ryder Cup.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Well, The Ryder Cup is huge. That doesn't take anything away from this event, at all. That was never even a thought. I'm coming out here to win. I don't care if I'm getting Ryder Cup points or not.

The tournaments that have Ryder Cup points; good, I'm going to go out there and play and try and win. But I'm out here solely focused on trying to win this week, obviously getting off to a good start tomorrow.

But The Ryder Cup is really important obviously, and I've heard many things, I've watched it, and to hopefully be able to make that team, give myself a good chance to make that team so far, it's a huge goal on my list for 2021. And there's a lot of golf in between this, and there's so many guys from the US that can make that team. You know, I've got to focus on where I am in the present and hopefully play some good golf then.

Q Europe have been the dominant force in The Ryder Cup over the last few years. What's your thoughts on that, and have you spoken to Steve Stricker about possibly making that team?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I was able to play a practise round with him, actually before I won the PGA Championship, I played a practise round with him that week. I haven't had a ton of experience, and there's many other guys that you can ask that question that would have possibly a better answer, but from what I've played in amateur golf, Walker Cup, Palmer Cup, to me it comes down to a lot of chemistry.

You look at the Europeans and this is a great example, when we were playing at the DP World tour, we were all hanging out after, obviously socially distant and wearing our masks, but everyone was enjoying it. Everyone is a tight-knit group and I think the guys in the US, that's a big thing for us is just have good team chemistry, and from there, we can go out and play our own games.

Q Sort of following up on that Ryder Cup sort of conversation, do you sense that you're part of quite a transitional period potentially as far as the American Ryder Cup Team is concerned? Especially when you consider that there's a three-year gap between matches now, and that you could be part of a wave that turns that tide that currently has been flowing in the European direction?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Let's hope so. I mean, like I said, those events are so -- I was talking to Ian Poulter this week, right, and the fans bring all the energy. They bring the life to everything and I think that's on all of the players, whether they are on Europe side or US side to embrace that because that's what it's all about, creating this energy, creating this buzz that we never get to see.

I really hope this is a different time period and when we come out and hopefully I'm on that team later this year, we can start a new trend of US kind of hopefully dominating the game when it comes to The Ryder Cup. But you know, I've gotten to know a bunch of the Europeans already, and they are great guys, they are great competitors, and none of us want to lose at the end of the day.

Q Have you seen the Tiger Woods film which has just been launched over here, the HBO one?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: No, I have not.

Q Do you have any interest in watching it?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: You know, I've seen the comments. I've seen the highlights. You know, I wouldn't say there's an interest. I've grown up watching Tiger my entire life, and all I could dream about when I was a little kid was to be able to play with him when he's on the PGA TOUR, and I've made that dream a reality and I've gotten to know him off the course.

So for me to have a personal connection aside from golf, and actually get to know him, and talk to him, you know, not just about golf but about anything else, that's all that matters to me.

You know, we all know the history of what happened. Facts are facts. But for a Tiger documentary, unless he was going to be the one narrating it, I really have no interest.

Q I would have thought because you know him as well as you obviously do, that would have made you more interested in watching something like this?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: To be honest, the best way you can get to know someone is by talking to them, right. You're getting to know me through this interview. I'm getting to know you by the questions you're asking. And for me to be able to ask Tiger personal questions, face-to-face, about golf, sports, family, whatever it may be, that's all that matters to me. I've idolised him and he's been a role model or a huge reason why I'm here today.

So you know, from what I have seen, comments and whatnot, there is no interest for me to watch it.

Q Roughly how many times have you played with him?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I don't know, a handful of times now.

Q Not double figures, anyway.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: No.

Q No, okay. Do you remember from those times, one shot or one thing that he did that really caught you and made you think, wow?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I wouldn't say there was one shot. But you know, when I watch him in his iron play, he's able to work the ball tremendously. Every pin, every location on the green, he's able to work that shot and he's able to, he has full control of the golf ball and some of us might say we do. But he does it at ease, and every shot comes at ease and there's no extra effort to hit a certain-type shot. Hopefully I'm able to get my game there sometime.

Q Pete Cowen once described Graeme McDowell as one of his strengths was that he was comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Are you implying or even saying that Tiger is comfortable in uncomfortable situations?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I mean, have you -- have you seen Tiger, what he's done?

Q Yeah, of course I have. I've followed him for 25 years.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Exactly. You answered your own question. The guy thrives under pressure. He thrives under moments when he needs to pull off a shot. He thrives under moments where he has to make a putt.

I mean, you look at all the highlights that he's done his entire career and they are all amazing shots. There's not -- obviously he's won a bunch of times and you're able to draw back on all these highlights, but of course he thrives under conditions like that. He wouldn't be one of the greatest if not the greatest of all time if he couldn't.

Q Thank you. You've just said it much better than I could have put it and that's why I wanted you to say it. Thank you very much indeed. Nice to talk to you.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah. You, as well.

Q Just bringing it back to this week, can you give us your thoughts on the Emirates Course and its setting, and does it live up to expectations from what you've seen?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I mean, like I said, off the tee, it's very demanding. Rough is up in a lot of places. The fairways are pretty narrow, so that's going to be key, getting the ball into the fairway off the tee.

The greens, you know, I wouldn't say -- they are not great. I've heard they have had a couple issues around this time recently, and some parts of the greens are a little patchy, which sucks, because a lot of the players told me, you know, these greens are some of the best throughout year for the European Tour.

Hopefully next year I think they are going to be redoing them. We come back; they are going to be great. But it's going to be a good test. You've got to hit the ball in the fairway out here and the greens are pretty small, so we get the ball in the fairway, we hit some good iron shots and make some putts.

Q And as a setting, your views on the venue, as a setting?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Beautiful. I mean, the 8th hole is a beautiful tee shot. I need to stop getting to lost in the background and actually hit a good tee shot. I haven't hit one yet. I haven't hit a great tee shot yet, so hopefully that starts tomorrow.

But it's obviously a beautiful place. It's close to the city. Hopefully, I heard there's going to be a few fans out there, so that's going to be exciting to see some people and hear some claps.

TOM CARLISLE: Thank you very much for your time and enjoy the week.