The sweetest moment of the golf week? A girl’s crush on Collin Morikawa 

Collin Morikawa was puzzled. In these spots, the pros only give, but here he was being gifted himself. A young girl had handed him a white putter cover, with, unknown to him at the moment, a note inside.    

The sweetest moment of the golf week, the headline above reads. This better be better than good, right? We can be both a skeptical bunch — I’ve seen sweeter, you may say — and a crusty one — where’s the disaster story, you may say — but you can’t frown on a little girl’s crush, and we can all use a smile from a pro breaking character. So let’s continue. 

Morikawa had finished his first round at the CJ Cup, played at the Golf Club at Congaree in South Carolina, and he was signing autographs when Zella stepped up. There are the nerves of a player sweating the 12 pin on a Masters Sunday, and there is this. Thanks to a video from the PGA Tour’s social media team, we saw the exchange. 

“You’re my favorite golfer, and I want you to keep this, from a gift from me to you,” Zella says, handing Morikawa the putter cover. 

“You want me to keep this?” Morikawa asks. “All right, now I got to go get something for you.” 

“Whatttt?” Zella says.

“Hold on,” Morikawa says.  

Morikawa hands back a Sharpie to another kid and tries to exit. Here, the video breaks, then Morikawa takes a picture with Zella. 

“Oh, that’s awesome,” a woman says. She was the photographer.   

Morikawa then tries to hand back the putter cover again. 

“Are you sure?” he says. “I want you to keep this. Here, I’ll sign it.” 

“No, she brought it for you,” the woman says.  

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“Just for me?” Morikawa says. 

“Yeah,” Zella says. 

Hold on here.  

“Can you sign it, though?” Morikawa says. 

Three other kids laugh as Zella pens her name. She holds it up, and the cursive is perfect. 

“I’m literally shaking,” she says. She slaps hands with another girl. She says, “Let’s go.”

Morikawa comes back with a golf glove.

“I’ll trade you. Did you sign it? Ah, yes,” he says, before walking away, putter cover in hand.  

Zella is then interviewed by the Tour social media team. 

“I gave him a putter cover, and I gave him a note inside the putter cover,” she says.  

“Yeah, it has her Instagram on it, but he doesn’t know that,” the woman says.   

“And why is he your favorite golfer?” the Tour social media person asks. 

Hold on here. 

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“He’s kind of cute,” Zella says.  

Zella and three other kids laugh. 

Then Zella starts to cry. “Why am I crying,” she asks. 

Would her crush just toss her gift aside?

Would he see the note?

No. 

And yes. 

On his Instagram story on Friday morning, Morikawa wrote:

“I found the note!!!”

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