TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

June 21, 2024

Collin Morikawa

TPC River Highlands

Quick Quotes

Q. Put yourself in a familiar spot now, back up in contention through two days. What have you liked about your game through two rounds?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: It's been really steady. I haven't made too many errors and when I have missed greens I've been able to have stress-free pars and goods looks for pars at least. But, yeah, shots are going where I want, putting the ball in the fairway, and that's key out here, especially with some kind of nasty rough. Just got to continue that for the next two.

Q. With your swing, do you feel like refined, is it more about refining the physical parts or the mental parts for you?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Right now it's just all mental. It's just not about -- I can't get lazy the next two days, the scores are going to keep getting lower, probably going to double from where we are right now, and the biggest thing for me if I want to stay in contention is just not letting my mind kind of wander. It's been a long stretch, it's hot, but I want to win and I'm going to stay as sharp as possible.

Q. Have you felt the mind wander at all in recent weeks in contention?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: No, it hasn't wandered, it's just, you know, with how hot it is out here and how long these days end up being, it's just staying as fresh as possible. And that's just, you know, when it's time to focus, it's time to focus. It's only 30 seconds and it's very doable for 60-some shots.

Q. You talk about having that belief when you were out there. What are your ways of getting it and keeping it, what does it feel like when you have it?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I wouldn't say there's ways to get it, it's just doing the right steps to seeing where the ball's going, trusting the shots. But when it's there it's great because you're able to step up and execute the shots that you see. But like I said, it's -- like, this is a course that guys aren't going to take their foot off the gas and you got to stay on that and there's a lot of -- every hole out here is essentially a birdie hole if you hit the fairway, so just got to continue that.

Q. You talked about the heat. Is this any different than what you see in Texas or in Florida or anywhere else?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: We don't -- I played in Texas I think once this year. Played in Florida twice. I mean, no. It's pretty -- I mean, it's hot. It's not miserable. I think Memphis in a month's time, a month and a half is probably worse. So, no.

Q. Are you a guy that goes to the range after a round pretty religiously?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I normally don't practice after rounds, so I won't go and practice, no.

Q. You're on a really good run overall these last five or six weeks, what do you attribute that to, what do you like most about the way your playing?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I've kind of, I know where the ball's going, so that helps. Obviously I want to be able to get the win and that's kind of what's stopping me from being on a great run. It's a big mental mindset. When you know where the ball's going it's a lot easier to play golf, and I've kind of been able to trust that. But just kind of going through the rounds, not getting too frustrated about a bad shot, because I know the good ones are really good right now. I've been driving the ball decent and it helps when you're in the fairway.

Q. Is this tournament special for you?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I mean, it was my third start as a professional, so that was pretty cool. You always owe a lot to those kind of starts that you had as a pro when you come out of college. Yeah, it's always been special, it always will be. Haven't played well, but hopefully we can change that this week.

Q. Do you think the winning score will get down below 20 again?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's going to be windy, and if it rains it's going to be even softer, so...

Q. (No Microphone.)

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Nothing goes into it. I think just a little different wind switch to, some of the holes early on played downwind. It's nice that -- I know I can make birdies on both sides. If you get off to a slow start you can make more on the back and vice versa. So hopefully we can kind of continue and put it all together for the weekend.