Collin Morikawa: The Best Irons in Golf, and the Putter

Add up every measured round on the PGA Tour since 2020 and two men sit alone at the top of strokes gained: approach. Scottie Scheffler gains 0.806 shots per round on the field with his irons. Collin Morikawa gains 0.803. Of the players who qualified for the stat in all seven seasons, the next best is Russell Henley at 0.620.

One of them has spent the last three years winning everything. The other has two PGA Tour wins and eight runner-up finishes since he lifted the Claret Jug at Royal St George's in July 2021. Same irons. Very different careers. The difference sits on the green.

Quick facts

The numbers, season by season

Here is the case in one place. Strokes gained per round, with his rank on the PGA Tour in brackets. The 2026 line runs through the Bank of Utah Championship on 4 October.

Six of seven seasons inside the top five on approach. That is the best-iron-player-of-his-generation claim, and it holds. Only Scheffler has a comparable run, and he did not reach the top five until 2022.

Now read the putting column. Five of seven seasons below zero, two of them outside the top 150. Over the same stretch Scheffler putted at +0.124 a round; Morikawa at -0.126. A quarter of a shot per round is a full stroke over four days. At this level that is the gap between a trophy and a cheque for second.

2021: when the irons were enough

The 2021 season is the one that built the reputation, and it is the one that hides the problem. Morikawa gained 1.170 strokes per round on approach, 0.275 clear of Paul Casey in second. That margin is enormous. It let him win the WGC-Workday Championship and The Open while ranking 178th of 196 in putting.

Royal St George's was the proof. He opened 67-64 in his first Open and closed with 66 on Sunday to finish 15 under. A year earlier at TPC Harding Park he had closed with 64 to win the PGA Championship at the age of 23.

When your irons are a quarter-shot better than the next best player in the world, you can rank near the bottom of the Tour on the greens and still win majors. The trouble is that margin did not last.

Since 2021: still elite, no longer alone

Morikawa has not led the approach category since. Scheffler led it in 2023, 2024 and 2025. In 2026 the two finished level on the number for practical purposes: Scheffler +0.673, Morikawa +0.664. The putting line for the same season reads Scheffler +0.574, fifth on Tour. Morikawa sits 65th.

So the edge that used to carry him is gone, and the club that never carried him has not caught up. The record since the 2021 Open shows exactly that. Two PGA Tour wins, at the Zozo Championship in October 2023 and Pebble Beach in February 2026. Eight runner-up finishes, among them the 2023 Sentry, the 2024 Memorial, the 2024 Tour Championship and the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Some of those seconds were simply lost on the greens. At Kapalua in January 2023 he started Sunday six clear and shot 72. Jon Rahm shot 63 and won by two. The PGA Tour's own report said it fell apart with his wedges and his putter, the two areas that had built the lead. At Bay Hill in 2025 he took a one-shot lead into Sunday, closed with 72, and lost by one to Russell Henley after missing an 18-footer for birdie on the 16th.

The majors since Sandwich

Twenty major starts since that Open. No wins. Six top 10s: fifth at the 2022 Masters, T5 at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club, T10 at the 2023 Masters, T3 at the 2024 Masters, T4 at the 2024 PGA Championship and T7 at the 2026 Masters. He has also missed the cut at The Open three times in five tries since winning it.

That is a good major record for most players. For a man with these irons it is thin. The pattern is consistent with the season numbers: he gets himself into contention through the bag, then does not hole enough over 72 holes to beat the one or two players who are putting well that week.

2024 is the useful exception. It was his worst approach year by a distance, 42nd on Tour. Yet he ranked fifth in strokes gained: total, putted on the right side of zero, gained 0.374 around the green (10th) and finished second in the FedExCup, his best finish. He was in the mix at Augusta and Valhalla. He still did not win. The irons came back in 2025 and the putter left again. Until 2026 he had never had both going in the same season.

2026: the closest he has come to the full set

This was the first season of his career in which he finished top five on approach and above zero putting. It produced the Pebble Beach win, his first in 28 months: a 30-foot birdie on 15, a 6-iron to eight feet on 16, then a 4-iron from 235 yards over the ocean wall on 18 for a closing birdie, 22 under and one clear of Min Woo Lee and Sepp Straka. Scheffler shot 63 and finished tied fourth.

Then his back went. He withdrew from The Players after one hole in March and also pulled out of the Texas Open and the Truist Championship. He played the rest of the year through it: T7 at the Masters, T4 at the RBC Heritage, third at the Travelers after a closing 61, T17 at the U.S. Open, T18 at The Open. Fifteen cuts made in 17 starts, one win, seven top 10s. In late September at Medinah he beat Hideki Matsuyama 1 up in Sunday singles as the United States came from 10.5-7.5 down to win the Presidents Cup.

Our view: the irons have not declined so much as the field caught up with them. If the 2026 putting line holds and the back allows a full schedule, a third major is a realistic target. If the putter goes back to 2025, he will keep collecting seconds behind men who strike it no better than he does. He sits No. 11 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and the next Ryder Cup is a year away.

FAQ

How many majors has Collin Morikawa won?

Two. The 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park and the 2021 Open Championship at Royal St George's.

Is Collin Morikawa the best iron player on the PGA Tour?

On strokes gained: approach since 2020 he is level with Scottie Scheffler, 0.803 to 0.806 per round, and well ahead of everyone else. He has finished top five in the category in six of the last seven seasons.

Why has Collin Morikawa not won a major since 2021?

His iron advantage over the field has narrowed, and his putting has been below Tour average in five of seven seasons. He has six major top 10s since 2021 but no wins.

What is Collin Morikawa's world ranking?

No. 11 in the Official World Golf Ranking as of 5 October 2026.

Sources

• PGA Tour: SG: Approach the Green: season approach averages and ranks 2020 to 2026 for Morikawa and Scheffler, and the 2020-2026 per-round totals
• PGA Tour: SG: Putting: season putting averages and ranks, Morikawa and Scheffler
• PGA Tour: Collin Morikawa career: born, turned pro, college, seven wins, 11 runner-ups, best FedExCup finish, team appearances
• PGA Tour: Collin Morikawa results: major finishes by year, 2026 season record, round scores
• PGA Tour: Morikawa ends win drought at AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: closing birdies, margin, 28 months since last win
• PGA Tour: Jon Rahm wins in stunning comeback at Sentry: six-shot 54-hole lead, wedges and putter
• PGA Tour: Henley wins Arnold Palmer Invitational: one-shot lead into Sunday, missed birdie on 16
• PGA Championship: Morikawa playing through back pains at Aronimink: 2026 back injury and withdrawals
• PGA Tour: Presidents Cup Sunday singles recap: singles win over Matsuyama, U.S. comeback from 10.5-7.5
• OWGR: Current world ranking: No. 11

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