Collin Morikawa had himself a day. The 23-year-old finished the 102nd PGA Championship with a 64 on Sunday, and his 129 was the lowest closing 36-hole total by a champion in men’s golf major history.
It’s the third victory of his young career, and he’s also the third youngest to win the PGA Championship since World War II. Morikawa did just about everything right on Sunday — although he did run into some awkwardness after his round.
When Morikawa finished, he was walking (all smiles) through a gallery of people — workers and volunteers, mostly, since fans weren’t allowed — en route to the scorer’s tent. That’s where he came across his coach, Rick Sessinghaus, and his girlfriend, Katherine Zhu, outside the ropes.
From there, we’re not really sure what happened, actually. It was all a blur for us, too. The young star seemed to go in for a hug with his coach, but then they stopped short. Then it looked like a hug with Zhu was next, but that didn’t happen, either.
Then, after a slight delay, came the sure-fire high-five, which seemed like a pretty safe play. Can’t go wrong with those. Morikawa and Zhu pulled that off with flying colors (take that, Tiger and Stevie!), and then Morikawa motioned her in and he pulled her close for a hug as he walked a few more steps. Now that was a nice moment.
Later, they sat outside to take a FaceTime call together. That seemed to go much more smoothly. The goods news for Collin is this: it looks like he’s got plenty more wins in his future, so he’ll have this celebration thing down in no time. (Oh, we almost forgot. He’s got to work on those trophy presentations, too.)
