This is the blog you have all been waiting for. We’ve been alluding to this for a while, and one day we’ll really dive into this on the podcast.. BUT I wanted to give a little sneak peak on this today. This has been a debate Rob and I have been having for a couple years now, which I believe I have absolutely dominated thus far. As you can expect, or should at least, I’m Team Morikawa.
Now, even though I think the Morikawa argument is a given, I’ll play both sides of the debate today. Let’s start with the Hovland argument.
Hovland has three wins, one of which was just a couple weeks ago at the Mayakoba. His wins are not his strong suit, since all three were relatively small tournaments. It’s his top 5’s and 10’s where he makes his money. In 2020, his breakout year, he racked up seven top 10’s, five top 5’s and one second place finish — including an extremely impressive fourth place finish at the Tour Championship. Over his career, he has twelve top 10’s, seven top 5’s and three wins. He was an integral part of the European team in this past Ryder Cup and performed quite well despite the U.S. handing out an absolute beat down for the history books at Whistling Straits. He ended up tying Morikawa in their singles match, proving they are on a very similar level skill-wise. No doubt here that he is one of the best out there, and fun to watch as well.
Now let’s get to my king, Colin Morikawa.
Morikawa came out of the gate absolutely fucking running. He started his career going on an insane run making 22 straight cuts, second only to the GOAT Tiger Woods. This included a heartbreaking playoff loss at the Charles Schwab Classic. After losing his cut streak, he recovered quickly following it up with an iconic win at the Workday Charity Open in a playoff against JT. This was where he was able to show his true colors, and it propelled him to be one of the more notable and talked about players in the game leading up to his win at the PGA Championship just a couple weeks later. As we all remember, the 2020 PGA Championship was one of the most stacked leader boards possible on a Sunday, with all the big names jumping in and out of the lead constantly. Morikawa ultimately came out victorious, earning him his first major at the young age of 23 — the third youngest to ever do it. He also went on to win the WGC a few months later, beating out an in-form Brooks Koepka for the victory. He then went on to win the Open Championship as an underdog yet again. He had never played a links course until the week prior to the tournament, then went out and won The Open Championship in dominant fashion. At the age of 24, he is now a two time major champion. At this point, I forget why I even need to keep listing his achievements… the debate is already so incredibly over… but I guess I’ll keep going for shits n gigs.
He finished tied third at the Olympics in 2021, or well 2020 (still ridiculous looking back that they kept calling it that a year later). He won the Ryder Cup in his rookie appearance with a dominant 3.5 points, tying Hovland on the last hole – which is absolutely brutal for this argument considering his putt on 18 could have clinched the win. Lastly, Morikawa just fucked around and cashed a $3 million check in Dubai for yet another win, the first American to ever do so in history. In his career, he’s racked up 20 top 10’s and four second place finishes – which shows his performances are as consistent as his ball striking with his irons.
Overall, Colin Morikawa has had one of the most impressive starts to a career you could ask for. He’s shown he’s a player that will sticks around for years to come. My prediction: he will get his Grand Slam at a young age — and I can’t wait to see him put on that green jacket.
Now, I understand that I may have been more enthusiastic in favor of Morikawa, but it’s not my fault the guy is a fucking savage on the links. Hovland is an extremely good player, don’t get me wrong, but unfortunately he just doesn’t have anywhere near the same accolades as Morikawa. I know a lot of people like to say majors aren’t everything, but in my mind they just are. They’re called Major CHAMPIONSHIPS for a reason. They mean more, they pay more and they bring the best out of everyone because of the extremely high stakes and even higher pressure. Morikawa is a guy that has that x-factor, and Hovland just hasn’t found that spark yet. I think this could definitely be a year Hovland wins himself a major… maybe I’ll eat some of my words… but for now, I think this argument can be put to rest.
Oh, and in case you still haven’t been convinced, there’s one thing that shows just how successful you are in this game and that, of course, is MONEY. Career earnings for Hovland are a very impressive $9.1 Million. Incredible for a 24 year old and more than some players have made in their career. Now, let’s look at Morikawa. A WHOPPING $18.3 Million. That’s right, Morikawa has DOUBLED Hovland’s career earnings.
I look forward to putting on a Morikawa-esque dominant performance when we break it down for you all on the podcast. Let’s get to 20k followers so we can finally get it done!!!
Three Putt Bogeys 