Who is Collin Morikawa’s Current Coach? His Big Change Ahead of the 2024 PGA Championship Explored

Collin Morikawa had been under the umbrella of his childhood coach, Rick Sessinghaus, for 18 years! However, he went under a drought for almost two years after his win at the 2021 Open Championship.

“I had to do it, I just felt like it was time to make a change at some point. What I saw kind of over the past two years wasn’t to my expectations and standards and goals what I wanted,” he said. But it looks like he is once again back to who he started with, right before the PGA Championship.

Collin Morikawa goes back under Rick Sessinghaus

Right before the 2023 Ryder Cup in September, Collin Morikawa replaced his childhood coach with the 2020 PGA of America Coach of the Year, Mark Blackburn, who also trained Max Homa and Justin Rose. Although the change in coach reaped its fruit pretty quickly, by grabbing him a win at the ZoZo Championship in Japan last year, the 2024 season did not turn out well for the duo. The 2X Major Champion failed to land himself in the Top 10 in any of the PGA Tour events, except for a T5 at the Sentry in January.

These included two missed cuts at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Farmers Insurance Open. Not wanting to take a chance at the Masters, he parted ways with Blackburn too. He went to work on things by himself mostly with a bit of help from his caddie, J.J. Jakovich, after his split from Blackburn. He finished the first Major of the year in the T3 position, only 7 strokes away from the winner, Scottie Scheffler. However, at the RBC Heritage, he once again dropped down to the 9th position.

It looks like Collin Morikawa does not want to take another risk before the second major of the season. He is back with Rick Sessinghaus, the coach that he trusted the most and worked with for the longest time. As reported by Dan Rapaport, “Collin Morikawa is back working with coach Rick Sessinghaus, whom he worked with from age 8 up until right before the 2023 Ryder Cup. After a brief period apart they’re back together. Morikawa won 2 majors and reached world no. 2 while working with Sessinghaus.”

18 years is a long journey to understand his gameplay. Rick Sessinghaus has not only been the guiding light but also the coach who has helped him achieve the greatest feats of victory. There is no doubt as to why Collin Morikawa has entrusted him with it right before the second major of the season.

The duo’s accolades together

Having worked together since Collin Morikawa was eight years old, Sessinghaus has been a witness to his shift from being an amateur to a professional. Right after getting an entry to the PGA Tour in 2019, he won the Barracuda Championship, beating Troy Merritt by three strokes, which followed a win at the PGA Championship in 2020.

That year, he also won the Workday Charity Open title by beating Justin Thomas in a playoff, and he won the same title the next year by three strokes, defeating Billy Horschel, Viktor Hovland, and Brooks Koepka. His second major win too came under the guidance of Rick Sessinghaus in 2021 at the Open, defeating Jordan Spieth by two strokes at the Royal St George’s Golf Club in Kent, England. Despite going through so many coaching changes in the past months, one aspect of Morikawa’s prep remains the same. The golfer continues to work on his putting with famed instructor, Stephen Sweeney. Sweeney had joined Morikawa’s team in November of 2022.

With not even two weeks left for the second major of the season, Collin Morikawa wishes to secure his win, no matter what, after coming so close to winning the green jacket at the Masters! Will he finally be able to win another major after 3 years? Stay tuned to find out!