Collin Morikawa never expected to play this club. Here’s what changed the mind

Furintown, without. – It’s a first week for Collin Morikawa. Trumpet marks his first week playing Philadelphia Cricket Clubhis first week Working with Caddy Joe Grainer new -And the first time he is gamed a 9-dru.

You read it right: a 9-DRU!

High High Fairway Woods has been spending their moment in PGA Tour in recent years, with more and more players seeking skills abroad that would have previously been overwhelmed by 4-Herkuri.

Taylormade’s top manager, Adrain Rietveld, told Golf, “these 9-sides are essentially wedge for a 225 yard blow.” In fact, Taylormade has three other Woods in the game this week, including Tommy Fleetwood, who club games almost every week.

Morikawa struck only 9-Dru once on Thursday at the Truist Championship on his way to an open round 63, which left two shots from the superiority.

In justice, that rhythm was not a good thing as Morikawa drew his goal on the 222-payor par-3 left green green green, nearly one of the 9th hole boxes. But Morikawa was not one and made with the club, confirming that it would be in the bag again for Friday’s second round.

As for the way he entered his bag of one of his generation’s best iron players? This is about his new cadet.

“I never thought of a 9-drru,” Morikawa said on Thursday. “When we were flying here, Joe, I just wondered about 4-Irons. It is a kind of club, not with which I fight, but I want to find the perfect distance and start, especially under certain conditions.”

Morikawa normally passes between a P7Cb or P770 4-Iz, depending on the conditions, for Rietveld, who said the optimal transfer number it requires is about 222 yards. With P7CB, his miss can drop by 207-208. With P770 more thanks and the largest, Miss loses only about 7 yards, up to 214-215 yards, but that club is not that possible, making it harder for the Morikawa to hit his brand cut.

After Greiner mentioned the idea of ​​a 9 wood, remembering His former chief, Max HomaHe had tested last year, Morikawa asked Rietveld to build a Taylormade Qi35 9-Dru with a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX shaft to try this week in Philly Cricket. No one, included Morikawa, expected him to play the club immediately, but the results spoke himself.

Taylormade Qi35 Straight Highway Wood

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Rietveld said that Morikawa had no problem with ease by hitting his desired 222 number and could even go over him and fly up to 226 or 227 yards. Even the scams would still end 218 to 219.

Meanwhile, he was receiving the added benefits of starting the highest ball and rotating it more, allowing him to control both form and better.

Rietveld was carrying traces of distribution and until Tuesday evening, as Morikawa had tested the club in range, in course, from tee, rough, etc., Rietveld asked it a hypothetical: if you are at 18 at Torrey Pines on the last day and have 20 balls of 4-Herkuri and 20 balls of this 9-tan. 4-Hayynt?

The answer was clear.

It was one of those rare periods when a player simply has to throw preferences from the door in favor of the obvious performance benefits. It may seem crazy that one of the best ball attackers on the planet would choose an extremely high fairway wood originally created for hackers, but these people are always looking for durability. If there is a club that will ease losses, they will try it.

Morikawa is realized at the club for this week, but with it playing well, T5 and five out of the two rounds, can take a power of residence.

Specifications with 9 wood of Collin Morikawa

Head: Taylormade Qi35 Core
Loft: 22.5˚
Lies: 58.5˚
The axis: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX
Tipping: 2 ″
Length: 41 ″ eog
Shaking weight: D3
This: this Golf Proud Tour Velvet 58r, Logo Down, 1 Extra Wing + 1 Lower Hand

Two other changes

While a signature event, the week of a major is normally a quiet time for gear changes, Morikawa did some.

In addition to adding the 9-dawn, the Morikawa has returned to his Qi10 LS driver from last year, despite having come to the 14th place rankings in strokes: outside of tee and second in accuracy in PGA Tour.

And after playing two events with a Taylormade Spider Tour V Putter, Morikawa has returned to the Taylormade TP Soto Blade Putter.

This switch seemed to be immediate two weeks ago in Zurich Classic when Morikawa left a practical Monday session with coach Stephen Sweeney with only Soto in the bag, but the spider survived the first two rounds in New Orleans before he and partner Kurt Kitayama lose the cut.

However, Morikawa insists that he has not excluded to return to the spider.

“In the last few days at home I was settling, I went back to the blade and made a lot of strokes and felt comfortable,” he said. “So why not go up with it instead of going out in green setting and spending an hour or two trying to figure it out, do I do it? Just stick with what I saw at home.”

During Round 1, Morikawa won more than two strokes in the greens, but took one step back during his second round 70 in more difficult conditions on Friday, losing 1.2 strokes.

Morikawa is known to make a Middle tour of the tournament beforeBut with better conditions ahead on Saturday, I would expect him to continue with the blade.

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