Detry leads on opening day at European Open

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Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, has signed on to be the title sponsor of the 2018 Quicken Loans National, the tournament announced today. The 2018 Quicken Loans National will be played at TPC Potomac, June 25-July 1. The title sponsor agreement with Quicken Loans is for one year. The tournament also announced that Quicken Loans golfer Rickie Fowler will participate in the 2018 Quicken Loans National. This marks the 4th consecutive year Fowler has played in the tournament. “We are excited to have Quicken Loans continue as the title sponsor of The National in 2018 and look forward to our tournament host Tiger Woods and the PGA TOUR’s stars coming to TPC Potomac June 25 – July 1,� tournament director Mike Antolini said. “Quicken Loans has been a terrific partner of the tournament since 2014 and we expect to have a great week for players, fans and the community.� “The Quicken Loans National has a tremendous reputation for honoring active and retired service members,� said Quicken Loans CEO Jay Farner. “We’re looking forward to another exciting weekend with some of golf’s biggest names, including our own partner, Rickie Fowler. But most of all we are looking forward to again shaking the hands of the men and women who have, and continue, to so selflessly serve this great country.� Also returning to TPC Potomac for the 2018 Quicken Loans National is the Quicken Loans Shot for Heroes. Open to all fans attending the tournament from June 27-July 1, Shot for Heroes helps raise money for charity with every swing taken. In addition, fans have the chance to win prizes by landing a ball within the “Q� or winning a grand prize by making a hole in one. Quicken Loans Shot for Heroes has raised nearly $750,000 for U.S. military-affiliated charities since the program was initiated during the 2015 tournament. The Quicken Loans National will return to TPC Potomac for the second consecutive year. Last year Kyle Stanley defeated Charles Howell III in a one-hole playoff. The win was Stanley’s second career victory on the PGA TOUR. The Quicken Loans National features 120 PGA TOUR golfers and a $7.1 million purse. Past champions of the tournament include tournament host Tiger Woods, K.J. Choi, Bill Haas, Billy Hurley III, Anthony Kim, Troy Merritt, Justin Rose and Nick Watney.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Collin Morikawa is getting old. He said it himself, with a big smile, and it might have been the reason why his body hasn’t been moving the way he would have liked through the 2022 calendar year. A lot of traveling. A lot of work. A lot of effort to try to become the best in the world. But he’s got a plan in place to end this year with a bang at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, and hopefully get a bit of the sour taste of a winless 2021-22 campaign out of his mouth before the holiday season. “This year’s been fairly stressful, a little frustrating at the same time. I think some guys are definitely taking it easy and I’ve kind of ramped it up just trying to kind of figure things out,” said Morikawa. “I want to finish this fall on the best of foot forward as possible. That’s why I come to these tournaments… to come out here and play well and hopefully win.” Morikawa notched two runner-up results last season – THE CJ CUP and The Genesis Invitational – and had eight top-10 finishes. His ball-striking remained elite, finishing third on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach The Green. The momentum hasn’t been there through the fall portion of the 2022-23 season, however, as he finished tied for 45th at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and then tied for 29th at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina. The two-time major champion admitted he did “a lot of searching” after starting his year in Dubai on the DP World Tour with a few lackluster results. Things “just never felt good,” he said. “Just kind of was searching for that game, searching for just kind of a normal,” he said. “The problem is when I search is like, I search for perfection, right?” As he looks back on the year that was, he said he knows what he needs to do. And he’s already started to tighten the screws. “Man, like I drank way more in college than I ever do now, but apparently when you get older, your body just moves differently,” said Morikawa with a laugh. “I still feel great, like everything feels great, everything moves great, but it’s just not as clean as it was. And the maintenance I have to do now is just a little bit more. “It doesn’t mean I need to do anything crazy. I’m not changing anything really. It’s just getting my body to where I need it to be.” This week’s setting may help with that. Although this marks Morikawa’s Mayakoba debut, he said he fondly recalled playing golf in Cabo San Lucas as an amateur and compares golf in Mexico to teeing it up in Hawaii. After a stretch of travel that included Japan, South Carolina, and now Mexico, the easy-going vibe at the World Wide Technology Championship may be just what the doctor ordered. “You do a lot of business when you’re out on the golf course but you’re able to really separate yourself and enjoy the time away,” he said. “I think what’s so great about when players come to a resort like this… they’re able to stay near the beach and kind of do other activities that force them to get away from the golf course. I think all great players have to do that.” Morikawa is certainly one of those great players. And despite not feeling 100 percent about his results from 2022, there’s hope for good things to come yet. “It’s a grind, but that’s what’s great,” said Morikawa. “Even though we are kind of heading towards this offseason, this fall area, I’m putting a lot of pieces together and putting a lot of work in to make sure this next (2023) is going to be as best as ever.”

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