2021 PGA Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Kiawah Island

James Barnes, Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, Leo Diegel, Denny Shute, Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka. What do they have in common? They all won back-to-back PGA Championships.

Hagen won four in a row in the mid 1920s and Woods won two in a row two different times. It’ll be tough for Collin Morikawa to replicate those feats, but he can certainly win this week at Kiawah Island.

Morikawa showed what he’s made of when he separated from a crowded leaderboard to win the 2020 PGA Championship by two at TPC Harding Park.

It was the third of now four PGA Tour victories for the 24-year-old. He’s since added another victory against a top notch field at the WGC-Workday Championship earlier this year.

The Californian will be making his sixth major championship start. He’s made four cuts and was T-44th or better each time.

Morikawa comes into the week well rested. His last start came here in South Carolina at the RBC Heritage where he took T-7th at a Pete Dye layout. It came on the heels of T-18th at the Masters.

The former Cal Golden Bear has made the cut in seven straight stroke play events. He was T-7th at both Hawaii events early in the year.

Morikawa will make his Kiawah Island debut. Given the youth of today’s game, he’s far from the only one in that position. Nor has being a course newcomer ever been a big detriment.

That’s because elite ball striking translates well week to week. He’s second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained tee to green (1.779). As we all know, it comes down to rolling in putts for Morikawa to turn top-20s into wins.

Perhaps paspalum will be the surface where everything clicks. Either way, there’s good value to be had on Morikawa at the Ocean course.