You can’t forget Collin Morikawa‘s 2021 Ryder Cup debut. Calm under pressure, locked in with the irons, finishing with a 3-0-1 record in the matches. He was a player the US team needed that year. But, things haven’t exactly followed a straight line since then. For someone we thought would be a guaranteed fixture on Team USA, Morikawa now finds himself in a fight to get in.

Although his season so far has been solid, there is still speculation about whether he will earn a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He had notable finishes at the Sentry and Arnold Palmer Invitational (2nd place), but he also had three missed cuts, including the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship. Overall, he has four top-10 finishes, but no victory.

In a recent interview with Golf Channel, Morikawa admits that he has been hard on himself. “I feel like I bring something to that team, hopefully, no one else can. So, depending on where I put my focus, obviously, a huge goal is to make that team.”

Collin Morikawa is known as one of the best iron players in the world, a skill which is very critical in a high-pressure team format like the Ryder Cup. Moreover, he ranks consistently high in important performance metrics like fairways hit, strokes gained, and proximity to the hole. This allows the two-time major champion to capitalize on low-risk shots.

Moreover, he has had a pretty decent Ryder Cup record. Appearing twice for Team USA (2021 and 2023). His overall individual match record stands at 4 wins, 3 losses, and 1 tie, totaling 4.5 points. With his overall contribution to the team, he’s ranked #37 on the all-time Ryder Cup points list.

But, with his current form, experts and commentators have expressed their doubts about whether his selection over other players will be justified. And for Captain Keegan Bradley, these are more reasons to let him sit out this year’s Cup. This also comes at a time when Captain America is himself considering playing on the team, and might be his own captain’s pick because making it to the top 6 on the Ryder Cup point list doesn’t seem easy at this stage, with players like Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup having a red-hot season. (Interestingly, Morikawa is currently at 8th ranked on the list, and Bradley at 10th).

But right now, Morikawa is more focused on bettering his golf rather than making the team. He believes that at the end of the day, there’s nothing some good golf can’t take care of.  “I’ve got some work to do. For me, it is proving to myself that I know I’m the golfer that I know I can be. So I’m getting back to that. Game is feeling a little bit better,” he concluded. 

The next few weeks are everything. The FedEx Cup Playoffs are approaching, and Morikawa knows what is at stake. He’ll have to make a run for it. But instead, he seems to be making a run for something else. His caddies.

What is going on with Collin Morikawa and his caddies?

So you must have heard already— Collin Morikawa has changed his caddie again. The fifth caddie change in 2025 saw him pair up with Mark Urbanek, who had previously worked with Tony Finau. This is just before the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and it comes at a time when there are questions being raised on the American’s lost consistency.

His rationale for these changes was to find the right ‘vibe‘, as he felt he needed a fresh dynamic to improve his performance. This was pretty much the same reason he gave when he parted ways with JJ Jakovac earlier in the year, under whom he had won his 2 Majors— the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship.

Collin Morikawa has described these switches as an effort to better connections. These changes, more or less, reflect his search for stability and confidence in a season where a victory continues to elude him.

But what if these are the very reasons that are causing instability in his performance? Caddies aren’t just bag-carriers; they are strategy partners. Take, for instance, Max Homa. He split with his longtime caddie Joe Greiner in April this year, and since then hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish this season and missed several cuts.

So, it’s possible that these spur-of-the-moment changes could have disrupted the trust and communications, which Morikawa needs so that he can perform at his peak. Nevertheless, only time will tell if this new switch improves the two-time Major winner’s performance or not.