Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland need a song. Not for karaoke, although that would be a fun team-building activity this week in New Orleans.
The World Nos. 2 and 5, respectively, are teaming up at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans and about the most pressing issue for this dynamic duo is the question of what walk-up music to play on the first tee Saturday at TPC Louisiana.
On Monday, Morikawa asked his Twitter followers for help and they responded with nearly a thousand replies, but as of their pre-tournament press conference on the eve of the tournament, these two twenty-something stud golfers hadn’t pulled the trigger yet.
“Have our list we’re supposed to fill out that I believe the deadline’s tomorrow. So if you have any recommendations, we’re taking answers right now,” said Morikawa, who noted that it’s not his style to wait to the last minute. “I think we need to finish this right now.”
Hovland isn’t on Twitter, but he’s a music junkie who loves heavy metal and has previously listed Metallica, System of a Down and Tool as his favorite bands. As Morikawa observed, they like different genres.
“I have no problem picking something, but we’ve got to walk up there together,” he said. “So, trying to figure something out that’s going to work. Either way, we’ll figure it out.”
“It will be great, no matter what,” Morikawa added.
But at the end of the presser, when the questions were directed at Hovland to answer in his native Norwegian, Morikawa was adamant about one thing.
“We will not be doing a Norwegian band,” he said. Not even The Beatles’s Norwegian Wood?
Twitterless Viktor and I need some song recs for this weeks @Zurich_Classic, let’s just say we have different tastes in genres…let us know ⬇️
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) April 18, 2022
Despite their struggles reaching a resolution on what song to play, Morikawa and Hovland are a team to be feared. In nearly three years since turning pro, they have each won six times around the world with Morikawa claiming two major titles. Their ball striking ability is other-worldly with Hovland third this season in Strokes Gained: Approach and Morikawa ranking No. 7. (He was first last season.)
“Everyone knows what our games are. We’re not hiding anything. It’s out there. You can see all our stats. You can see how we play. They are very similar games,” Morikawa said. “It just shows that, when times are under pressure or you’re put on a stage like alternate shot, you show up, and you’re ready to hit some good shots and you’re ready to perform.”
Based on the stats, having the top two ballstrikers in the field on the same team should make them the runaway favorites to win the title in the Big Easy, but if they have an Achilles heel it is around the green, where Hovland ranks 205th and Morikawa isn’t a whole lot better at 183rd in SG: Around the Green.
Last year in the Tour’s only team event, Hovland played with fellow Norwegian and former Oklahoma State teammate Kris Ventura and finish T-25 after a disastrous final-round 78 while Morikawa missed the cut with Hovland’s college teammate, Matthew Wolff. Hovland and Morikawa’s mutual admiration society began a while ago but may have peaked when they dueled to a tie in their Ryder Cup singles match in September at Whistling Straits, where they combined to shoot a best-ball 59. In December, Hovland rallied from six strokes back in the final round to defeat Morikawa at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Still, that didn’t stop Morikawa from popping the question about partnering up for Zurich.
Morikawa-Hovland playing together as a team at the Zurich Classic this week is a reminder that they shot a best-ball 59 against each other on Sunday at the Ryder Cup. pic.twitter.com/rn12tsGY6E
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) April 19, 2022
“Our caddies were really good friends. They started staying together. We’d show up and have dinner together and kind of grew a friendship,” Morikawa explained. “I’d say we’re pretty good friends now.”
To hear them describe how their team came to be sounds a lot like a couple detailing the courting of a prom date.
“When he first asked me in Bahamas, I was really excited,” Hovland said. “You kind of have to play hard-to-get a little bit and had to make him kind of work for it a bit.”
“Viktor likes to put things off to the last minute, and I hate that,” Morikawa said. “Then I kind of circled him right before he won in Dubai on the DP World (in February), right before his playoff, and I was like, ‘So are we doing this?’ And he looked at me, and he was kind of questioning what was going on. Then that came to be. I solidified that and signed us up.”
Now if they could just settle on a song for their walk-up music – no Norwegian pop – Morikawa would be happy to get down to business and winning the outlandishly large silver belt buckles that go to the champions.
“Send the form to me, I’ll fill it out,” Hovland said to Morikawa. “I promise.”
