DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

November 17, 2021

Collin Morikawa

Jumeirah Golf Estates

Press Conference

KEITH PELLEY: We're very privileged today to have this opportunity after a stunning win this year at The Open Championship in Royal St. Georges, and you were a member of the European Tour. So now on behalf of everyone on the Tour, I would like to officially offer you, award you Honorary Life Membership to the European Tour.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Oh, my God. That's amazing. Thank you.

KEITH PELLEY: Incredible. You become the 57th player to do such. Goes back to our founding father back in 1978 who was the very first member, and you become the fifth American behind Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Patrick Reed. So I have this Honorary Life Membership for you, Collin, and we are even giving it to you despite the incredible performance at the Ryder Cup.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Put that aside. Thank you so much. Two and a half years ago when I turned pro, I had no clue what life was going to put in front of me. Obviously the world has gone through many changes, but this means a lot.

Look, the game is growing, we want to grow the game as much as we can, and this is an important piece of that. So I'm going to honor this and this is going to be very special and then definitely a top highlight so far since turning prior. So thank you.

KEITH PELLEY: You're a class guy, one of the great guys on Tour. Good luck this week becoming the first American to win the Race to Dubai.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: No pressure, right?

KEITH PELLEY: I'll leave that with you. Congrats again.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Thank you.

Q. Just give us your thoughts very quickly, just to look ahead to the week. It's another big week at the end of a big year for you. The chance to make another bit of history this week?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I first have to say thanks to the European Tour. This means everything. Like I said, I've been a pro for two and a half years, and the things I've been able to accomplish I'm very thankful for. But we're back here and the main focus is to try and win.

I was here last year, and we had a shot at trying to win the Race to Dubai. Didn't come through. It's comforting to come back to a course I've played at before. Nothing has really changed. My game feels really good right now, the past month and a half since the Ryder Cup has progressed.

And it's exciting. When your game feels good, when you head into a week like this, even with a lot of travel, you do as much prep as you can by Thursday, and you just get ready to play some great golf.

Q. You say nothing has changed compared with 12 months ago when you came here, but quite a lot has changed in a sense. You're a major champion. You've got Honorary Life Membership of the European Tour. How much more equipped do you feel potentially to land the Race to Dubai do you feel you are this year?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I've gotten that question a lot really recently over the last kind of month of how much my life has changed since turning pro. And it has, but I still feel like I'm the same person. I've learned lessons through golf and through the world that's personal to me and that's going to stay in my head, but when it comes to trying to win a TOUR Championship, win the Race to Dubai, a lot has to go into it.

I'm not taking this week lightly. I've put a lot of work in the last week, the past couple days to be ready and to come out here and play as best as I can.

Yes, we're at the end of the season, we're at the tail end of the season. And I made that mistake with how the PGA TOUR and the FedExCup went, injuring myself and getting a little unfortunate the way the playoffs worked, and I worked so hard through the regular season to put myself in a good spot that I don't want to let this go.

I think I said this last year, you don't know how many chances you're going to get to win a Race to Dubai, and I've been very lucky to play well this year in a major and the WGC to get me in that position. But I want to come out here and win. If I win, it takes care of everything.

Q. What would it mean to you to make history and be the first American to do it?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: It would mean a lot. Hopefully we can talk a little bit more late Sunday. But you heard Keith talk about the names, the honorary Americans that have lifetime membership on the European Tour. And I don't take that lightly. It's a very strong, strong list. And when you're a part of that group and you're able to make history as the first American, hopefully that sets the stage to see this is a growing game around the world.

Q. And you seem to be genuinely touched with the award you've just been given. With that in mind and now your status as an Honorary Life Member, what's your take on the renaming of the Tour and the situation overall in world golf at the moment? Because there's a lot going on.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: DP World was a great addition to what was the European Tour. But it's all about growing the game. How do we grow the game for the world and create opportunities? I think that's the biggest thing.

I've talked about it since day one. I've been very fortunate as a kid growing up. I had what I needed to succeed, and I took that, and I didn't take it for granted, but I enjoy this game.

But I was very lucky. There's many people around the world, and now that we get to travel to certain places, obviously we travel a lot of places in the States, but slowly travel around the world and you see the opportunities just aren't the same.

That's what it's about, how do we grow this game. And that's what we're supposed to do as athletes, as professional athletes. We're looked up at from little kids, from children that see us as role models. And we have to do our part to leave an impact.

Obviously we have personal goals trying to win tournaments, but it's how do you leave a legacy and impacting the game for the future.

Q. Congratulations on the life membership award, but we were just talking about the fact you're going to the Bahamas. How nice would it be to have two titles or two awards over Tiger when you -- hopefully you do see him out there?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: It is very steamy out here in Dubai, so Bahamas sound pretty nice on the ocean. Look, anytime you're compared with Tiger, in the same conversation, it's always a great thing you're doing. It's always putting a smile on my face.

I've got to focus on this week. I can't focus about anything else. But, I've got two great events coming up to end my year, and hopefully we can end them on a strong note.

Q. Last year when you were in Dubai, we spoke about it, and you said that you wanted to go around the world playing golf. And given the situation that you have right now and that Asian Tour is not really the focus of -- or being looked upon as kind of a challenge to both PGA Tour and European Tour, and I know you're Asian heritage and your Asian roots, what do you think about that? If you're given a chance to go and play in Asia, would you not take it up?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I'm not sure. I haven't thought about that. It's a great question. But it goes back to growing the game. It's going to be harder to play on the Asian Tour. There's going to be restrictions. I'm not the right person to ask because, to be honest, I haven't read up too much about it. There's guys that are on the PAC on the PGA TOUR that will know a lot more about what the actual rules are of trying to apply to go and play and in certain events.

But that doesn't mean we can't stop growing the game. I was in Japan a few weeks ago, and the fans and the kids out there, they love the game so much. They don't care who you are. Yes, they know certain players, they know the big-name players, but every player out there was getting an applause every time he'd walk to a tee box.

So it's just about doing our part, going over, playing those events and trying to grow the game. We play in so many places around the States, especially for the PGA TOUR, that when you have opportunities to play around the world and it's aligned right, it makes sense.

Q. I was wondering one of your biggest rivals to win the Race to Dubai is Billy Horschel. Just wondering if you've spoken to him, bit of an inter-American rivalry going on this week.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: You can make it what it is. I'm here to win the tournament. I think if I just beat Billy Horschel, that's not going to guarantee me the Race to Dubai. I'm trying to take care of my business.

If I win this week, we know what's going happen. The only time I've ever looked at trying to beat an opponent was the Ryder Cup. That's all that matters, you get a point on the board.

When it comes to tournaments like this and you have a chance to win a season-long race like the Race to Dubai, you can't think about that. You can't worry about the what-ifs or what points might add up. You just got to go out and play your best. The goal is to win the tournament.

Q. Are you aware of all the scenarios, different scenarios that could happen this week, or are you purely focusing on the win?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I'm actually not. Normally I'm a person that likes to know everything, know the points, know which way it can go. But I think you're pointing out a great fact and it's going to remind me this week to focus on this tournament.

At the end of the day, I'm still playing four rounds. And, yes, it is a season-long race, but this tournament means a lot to me too. I want to come out here. And I wouldn't show up if I didn't think I could win.

So I'm sure there's a lot of scenarios out there. But if I start worrying about them, they might come true, and hopefully that -- I could be on the bad end of that.

Q. I believe this will be your fourth counting event, sort of a non-WGC or major, which is obviously the minimum to qualify. Would you like to hopefully play more on the European Tour next year now that you are an honorary member?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I'm always open to adding new events. We travel so much, and my offseason this year is going to be about a month. I had three weeks off before this, but still had to prep for this week and still had to get ready.

So it's all about balancing your schedule. I've been very lucky since I turned pro to figure out a schedule and been able to balance, not playing too much here and there.

But the European Tour, the DP World Tour has been great to me, and they've done amazing things on the times I've been able to travel over here and play on the Tour.

And it's exciting. Every time I come over here, I'm always welcome. It's been a lot of fun, and I look forward to adding a couple more events here and there.

Q. Just curious, you have such incredible equilibrium and balance. You've taken your success, seemingly, from an outside perspective, at least, in your stride. Where does that come from? You're first major and your second major start, you won another major this year, you played a starring role in the Ryder Cup. That hasn't thrown you off your very serene course. And I'm just wondering, does that come from something internally, something you do consciously, or why do you or where do you think you get that ability from, Colin?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I have great parents. They raised me really well. I'm very thankful for them. I am who I am because of them.

And, look, I think since turning pro, obviously going through what the world has gone through with COVID and everything, and not just COVID, but things that are happening in the States, it puts a perspective on life.

I've been able to meet some players out on the PGA TOUR who I've grown fond of, not just for what they do on the golf course, but just who they are. And you see how they balance life. And golf is -- for a lot of people, that's all we do. But there's so much more.

And it's pretty cool that at 24 I'm able to look at this kind of perspective of, yeah, when I'm here I want to win. There's nothing else on my mind, I promise you that.

But when you're away from the golf course, I'm able to step away and not just grind and grind every inch of the day or every second of the day. Because, look, I love the game, and when I'm out there, I'm putting my hundred percent effort. But I'm able to love other things and enjoy other things in life, which has kind of kept that balance. So I've been lucky.