The best iron player in golf, according to Collin Morikawa

It’s always interesting to hear from a player who is widely believed to be one of the best at something to name the person they feel is the best, and ahead of this week’s Valspar Championship, that player was Collin Morikawa.

Last year, Morikawa topped the Tour’s ranking in strokes gained: approach, and it wasn’t close. But when Morikawa was asked about who he thinks is the best iron player in golf, he didn’t hesitate.

“I still think Tiger has the best iron game. Like, even now,” he said. Like, I haven’t seen him hit a ball for awhile. But when we had our TaylorMade shoots and you would see him out there and I’d talk to him and we did a little 10-minute video of watching him hit irons, it is amazing.”

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Morikawa acknowledged that he’s aware that his own iron game isn’t too shabby, either.

“I still think when my iron game’s on, like, it’s better than everyone,” he said. “It would be bad for me to think otherwise because then I’m showing up to these events thinking, okay, I’ve got to do everything so perfect. Like, I still think I can still play an okay game and still get away with a week and possibly win.”

So what is it that so impressed Morikawa about seeing Tiger Woods in action up close? Morikawa said it was Woods’ seemingly effortless control.

“[He] just hit every shot on command,” Morikawa said. “I mean, it was, and I can go out with some buddies or go out in a pro-am like this and tell them, oh, I’m going to hit this shot, right? But you could tell that he knew exactly what he was going to do and he came out exactly in the same window and it was so simple.

“Like, we want to make it that simple but sometimes for me cut shot comes easier than a draw,” he continued. “I’m working to hit that draw probably a little more than he’s working to hit the draw. It was just so efficient. It was so easy. And that’s how you want to make golf.”

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As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.

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