2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba: Top 10 Power Rankings

Collin Morikawa was not averse to playing lower-tier events in his early days as a pro. A win at the 2019 Barracuda Championship was a big springboard, even if it was an alternate field event.

It’s been quite a while since the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba held alternate field status, yet it never fit into Morikawa’s schedule. The tournament continues to attract stronger fields in recent years, which has enticed Morikawa to get in some final reps before year’s end.

Morikawa’s highlight of the fall season came at the Presidents Cup. He posted a 1-1-0 record guiding rookie Cameron Young around Quail Hollow. It would have been the other way around if it was Sleepy Hollow. In singles, Morikawa routed Mito Pereira.

Since then, the two-time major champ teed it up in a couple of no-cut events. Morikawa posted T-45th at the ZOZO Championship and T-29th at the CJ Cup.

Last season, the 25-year-old out of Cal-Berkeley ranked third in strokes gained approach per round (.854) after leading the PGA Tour in 2020-21 (1.17). After putting, driving accuracy might be his next biggest weakness. That can be mitigated with less than driver off the tee this week on most holes. From there, his superior iron play should be able to give him enough close looks to get him into contention if he’s even somewhere around 40th for the week in SG putting.

With a week off leading into Mayakoba, I think he’s going to grind out a top-five and restore confidence after a solid, but unspectacular 2022.