"It's weird this year" - Collin Morikawa gives his candid take on PGA Tour's increased prize money purse
Collin Morikawa says he doesn't think about money while playing at the events on the PGA Tour, and winning against the best players is always a great feeling, irrespective of the size of the prize money the event has to offer.
Morikawa broke Tiger Woods's 16-year-old record at the Tour Championship after shooting 6-under 64 on Friday, August 25, to aggregate at 125 after the two rounds the lowest 36-hole total in the tournament's history. He shares the lead with Viktor Hovland at 16-under.
The winner at East Lake will receive $18 million out of the $75 million prize money. Despite such a lucrative purse, Morikawa stated that he wasn't thinking about money, and it wasn't something he kept as a priority.
He said:
"I've been very fortunate to get off to a great start in my career and never had to really think about that. I've been lucky. It's weird this year, with all the designated events, next year signature events, it's always, everyone makes it about the money.
"But I really don't care. I would play these tournaments because I want to play against the best guys in the world. I want to win. And whether you get a dollar out of it or 10 million dollars out of it, a win's a win."
Money hasn't been a problem for Morikawa anyway, given that he has achieved some significant victories since the beginning of his career. He is already a two-time major champion and has amassed $24,946,135 in career earnings with five PGA Tour title wins so far. It will be interesting to see how much he can add this Sunday.
When will Colin Morikawa begin his third round at the Tour Championship?
The two-time major champion is grouped with fellow 36-hole leader Viktor Hovland for Round 3 of the 2023 Tour Championship. They will begin their third round on Saturday, August 26, at 3 pm ET.
Emiliano Grillo and Taylor Moore will be the first duo to tee off at East Lake on Saturday. Both haven't been at their best so far this week. While Moore slipped to the bottom of the leaderboard with a 5-over 75 in the second round, Grillo wasn't any better as he carded a 2-over 73 and is tied with Moore at the bottom. The duo will resume play at 12:21 pm ET.
Here are the complete tee time details for the 2023 Tour Championship:
- 12:21 pm: Emiliano Grillo, Taylor Moore
- 12:32 pm: Jordan Spieth, Si Woo Kim
- 12:43 pm: Corey Conners, Sungjae Im
- 12:54 pm: Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler
- 1:05 pm: Nick Taylor, Sepp Straka
- 1:16 pm: Tony Finau, Jason Day
- 1:27 pm: Brian Harman, Tom Kim
- 1:38 pm: Russell Henley, Lucas Glover
- 1:54 pm: Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay
- 2:05 pm: Sam Burns, Adam Schenk
- 2:16 pm: Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick
- 2:27 pm: Rory McIlroy, Wyndham Clark
- 2:38 pm: Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm
- 2:49 pm: Scottie Scheffler, Keegan Bradley
- 3:00 pm: Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa