Born in Canada, brought up in China, and residing in the United States — in short, that sums up the life of Katherine Zhu, Collin Morikawa’s wife. Zhu was born on January 13, 1996, in Vancouver, Canada. Later, her family moved to China.

She attended the Zhuji Hailiang Private High School in Shaoxing. After that, she left for the U.S., enrolling at Pepperdine University as an International Management student. How does a multicultural background help her? Zhu once explained that having lived in different cultures makes her appreciate diversity in the game.

“That’s really helped me to play golf, because I meet different people when playing in tournaments. It provided me a broader perspective of the world, and I got to understand more about the sport, people,and my teammates better,” the Las Vegas resident told Pepperdine Waves in 2016.

Her parents were also athletes. Her father, Mike Chu, was a tennis player, while her mother was a track athlete. Having two sportspersons as parents, Zhu was introduced to different sports quite early in her life.

Zhu’s father also played soccer. She, however, started with tennis, winning an amateur title at 13. She also flirted with the idea of becoming a track and field athlete like her mother. However, shifting to Malibu for higher studies changed that. At Pepperdine, her attention turned to golf, and that’s how she met her husband, Collin Morikawa.

Zhu and Morikawa’s golf connection 

Katherine Zhu was an ace collegiate golfer having earned multiple accolades at Pepperdine. She was a WGCA All-American Scholar, Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar, and WCC All-Academic. Despite attending different universities—Morikawa is a UC Berkeley alum—they met through a mutual friend who wanted Zhu to meet Morikawa, according to US Weekly.

That common friend apparently showed Zhu’s Instagram handle to Morikawa as well. They started texting each other and didn’t meet in person until spring break. Spring truly brought something special, as their new relationship started blossoming. Five years later, the couple finally decided to tie the knot. By that time, Morikawa had cemented his status as a PGA Tour pro.

In an interview with Golf Central, the six-time PGA Tour winner said, “Kat’s been by my side through it all. She would hate me if I didn’t say this, but I didn’t start winning in college until she showed up in my life.” 

Zhu has been the ‘lucky charm’ in Morikawa’s life. Now in Canada, the country where she was born, will Katherine Zhu conjure magic for her husband again? We have to wait until Sunday for that answer.