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Safeway Open: Top 10 power rankings for Silverado CC

By Mike Randleman

NAPA, CA - OCTOBER 06: Brandt Snedeker plays his shot from the 18th tee during the third round of the Safeway Open at the North Course of the Silverado Resort and Spaon October 6, 2018 in Napa, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
NAPA, CA - OCTOBER 06: Brandt Snedeker plays his shot from the 18th tee during the third round of the Safeway Open at the North Course of the Silverado Resort and Spaon October 6, 2018 in Napa, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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MEDINAH, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 15: Collin Morikawa of the United States reacts to his birdie on the 14th green during the first round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club No. 3 on August 15, 2019 in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
MEDINAH, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 15: Collin Morikawa of the United States reacts to his birdie on the 14th green during the first round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club No. 3 on August 15, 2019 in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /

Collin Morikawa is sure to have plenty of support this week at the Safeway Open. The Los Angeles native and Cal-Berkeley product is playing in his home state.

This is also the site of his first PGA Tour start where he nearly rallied to make the cut with a Friday 69 in 2016 as a 19-year-old. He already showed at that point he could play with the pros as he nearly won a Korn Ferry Tour event earlier that year, finishing T-2.

Morikawa went on to an All-American career at Cal and was the world’s top-ranked amateur for several weeks in 2018.

He hit the ground running as a PGA Tour rookie in 2019. Playing off of sponsor’s exemptions and qualifying for tournaments via top-10 finishes, Morikawa made all nine of his PGA Tour cuts and secured his card through 2020-2021 thanks to a win at the alternate field Barracuda Championship.

The 22-year-old was a lengthy eagle putt by Matthew Wolff away from a playoff at the 3M Open (T-2) and was also in contention at the John Deere Classic (T-4). Morikawa was also T-14 at the RBC Canadian Open in his first start as a pro.

Morikawa nearly made it to East Lake, reaching the FedEx Cup Playoffs’ second of three stages at the BMW Championship.

His 32 measured rounds last season weren’t enough to qualify for PGA Tour rankings. If they were, he’d be near the top in strokes gained approach (.887) and tee to green (1.227). He was slightly above average putting on greens he saw for the first time and was OK around the greens.

Morikawa took over a month off following the BMW after a frenzied 2018-19 college and then pro season. With the batteries recharged, I like him to contend for his first full field victory.

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