STEVE TODD: Your first trip over here to Dubai, give us your first impressions and what it means to be here for the DP World Tour Championship this week.
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Well, obviously Dubai is beautiful. I've been looking forward to this trip and I didn't really make my decision for a while, but it was on my radar and obviously I've put myself in a really good position to close out 2020 on a great note. To be here and make this my first start on the European Tour means a lot.
I've talked about consistency. I've talked about being, you know, and bringing my game around to the entire world, and what better way to show it, the DP World Tour Championship. All the best players are here throughout 2020 and everyone is here to win. It going to be a long week. It going to be a tough one but I look forward to it.
STEVE TODD: You come here, as well, in a good position in The Race to Dubai. A chance to make a bit of history this week, you and Patrick to become the first American winners in The Race to Dubai. What would that mean to you?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: You know, it would mean a lot. But I don't think that would mean the most. I think winning The Race to Dubai would mean a lot for my career, for myself. Huge confidence boost, but like I said, there's a lot in between now and Sunday that has to happen but winning The Race to Dubai would mean a lot because I want my game to travel. I want to be a world player. I want to be able to bring my game anywhere, adapt to the different places I come to and this is just the first step of doing that.
Q. How weird would it be and would it solve this strange year if you were able to win The Race to Dubai in your first regular European Tour event?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, it seems to be the trend that I haven't played a European Tour, but to be honest I knew at the beginning of the year that I was going to have a good chance to play in all the majors and before COVID happened play in the WGCs. What the Affiliate Membership does, it gave me a chance to do and obviously with a shortened season everything and, winning the PGA Championship helped a lot and I hope to make it more out here because it is exciting.
I signed up for membership for next year already because I want to play out here. There's a bunch of guys that I've never met. I've seen them on TV and I think they are wonderful players and there's a couple guys that I've seen longer than I have on the PGA TOUR. I've grown up playing with Sam Horsfield and Sean Crocker my entire life, so it's good to see a couple guys play really well, make it out here.
Like I said, we all got here through some different way. I'm very thankful for the path that I've taken so far but this week means a lot. It's a big week. I came here after some good rest after the Masters and really prepped, fresh mind and look forward to the week.
Q. Just to briefly follow-up on that, all things being equal this year, would you have played previously on The European Tour or regular tour events? What was the plan?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: I'm not sure because I signed up for membership right before México, the first WGC of 2020, when I barely snuck into that field. I don't know what the calendar would have looked like if I would have came over right before the British and tried to play the Scottish. Definitely a possibility.
But I just hadn't gotten that far forward with my schedule yet.
Q. You said this was a late decision. Can you just talk us through the process and what sort of made you make the decision to come in the end?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I wanted to give myself a good position to win it, and obviously I think I read something a lot of guys could win this week based on how Sunday happens. But it's just Dubai is a very far trip. I'm on a 12-hour time difference, and it hasn't been easy to adjust but I've been able to do it pretty well. I've been waking up a little early and going to bed a little early, but it's been an adjustment.
Like I say I don't want to just play in the US my entire life. I want to come out here and experience what it's like on the European Tour, see what other course are like, see what other players are like, because I feel like my game can travel and we're going to see how it goes this week. Through the first couple days of prep, everything feels really good.
Q. Two Americans in the top three going into this week. Are you surprised that an American hasn't won The Race to Dubai before?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: I am. You know, I think you guys are very appealing to us. I've enjoyed my trip so far and I've only been here for three days. Hopefully we just keep adding a couple more weeks here and there throughout calendar year whether it's next year or years to come. But yeah, I am surprised. But that shows the greatness of golf out here.
Like I said, a couple Americans out here but there's a lot of good players and it's cool to see. You talk about the PGA TOUR and the European Tour, the kind of merge -- I don't know exactly what it was, but a week ago, they released something about them working together. I think that's a phenomenal thing for them -- to come for the future, just to give a pathway. I see a lot of these guys and I've met a lot of the European Tour players through WGCs and it's been a lot of fun to see them play, but hopefully we see them a little more down the road as well.
Q. How do you feel your game has been since you became a Major Champion?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Scrappy. Hasn't been great. For me it comes down a lot to my head, the mental side, and after the PGA, I was obviously very tired and very burnt out, but I just didn't set new goals. I felt like I was almost complacent. I felt good after the major win. And I think a lot of people are, and that doesn't mean like I was okay with it and I was satisfied with one. But I was satisfied for at least the next few weeks, and that bled into the Playoffs for the PGA TOUR, bled into the FedExCup Playoffs and after that the Masters, I had I think three weeks off coming up until this week. I did a full reset. I looked at this as a very big tournament, a tournament I really want to win. Want to win this. Want to win The Race to Dubai.
So I sat myself down with my coach and we talked about goals and we talked about what I need to do to come out here and play really well, especially traveling so far halfway across the world. And a lot has been put into my game and to kind of my head over the past week to get ready for this week.
Q. When was the first time you came to Europe?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: The first time I came to Europe was Palmer Cup, summer of 2018, I believe was Palmer Cup. We went to France, and then by the fall of 2018, I was playing the World Amateur Team event in Ireland, and then here we are.
Q. Where in France?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: It was at Evian, the Evian course where they host the Evian Championship.
Q. That was the first time, not just for golf but first time ever in Europe?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Correct.
Q. And how many times have you been since?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Zero. I've only been twice.
Q. Okay.
COLLIN MORIKAWA: But I was trying to look, are we in Asia technically right now? We are, right?
STEVE TODD: Middle East, Asia, yeah.
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Just curious.
Q. Can I take you back to the question of traveling the world and wanting to become a world player. Can you explain it any more? Because a lot of players in America and a lot of Americans, don't want to become world players. What made you determined to become a world player?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, you know, I think if you look not just at the history of golf but you look at some of the best players is that their game travels. There's so much focus obviously for myself on the PGA TOUR, does your game travel from the West Coast to the East Coast but I want my game to travel around the world. When I'm given opportunities like this to play on The European Tour and give myself a chance to win The Race to Dubai, I need to come out here to Dubai and feel like I can win. Not just come out here to Europe, Asia, wherever we are and feel like this is a brand new place. I want to feel comfortable in the setting and I feel like my head and my game can travel. So why not be a world player. Why not come out here a couple times, or whether it's one time, three times, four times, whatever it may be and compete, because you guys have great events. You have great players, and see what it like.
Obviously this is my first one, hopefully of many, and we'll see what it takes. You know me as a person, I love to travel and golf aside, this is fun for me. With all the COVID stuff, obviously it sucks, you're not able to look at what Dubai might really look like with people around and everything. But trust me, I enjoy traveling, and people might say that, yes, I'm 23 and this is a year and a half, almost two years of traveling, but I love it. I love going to new places. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Q. I was just wondering, you earmarked earlier potentially playing The Scottish Open and the British before the schedule got switched around. Is there anything concrete in your plans to start next year?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, great question. I will be back in Dubai for the OMEGA Dubai, I believe, yeah -- that's the name, sorry. But yeah, so I'll be back in a month and a half, two months from now, and it will be exciting to come back to Dubai and a place that I can say I've been to.
Q. Will you potentially stay on for Abu Dhabi?
COLLIN MORIKAWA: No, I think this will be just a one-week trip for me.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports