Collin Morikawa Talks PGA Tour Relegation & More

Collin Morikawa walked off a US Open at Shinnecock and into the Travelers Championship, and the two-time major champ arrived at TPC River Highlands ready to exhale. The US Open is stress. Cromwell, by his telling, is the reward.

"It's good to be done with the US Open, kind of get that stress over with," Morikawa told Rich. "Par's a great score" at a US Open, he explained, where stringing together five or six in a row can wear on a player. River Highlands flips the math. Every one of the 18 holes is a birdie chance, and Morikawa expects the soft early conditions to give way to low scoring.

The bigger conversation was the future. The PGA Tour unveiled a wave of changes for 2028, including parallel championship and challenger tours with promotion and relegation. Rich noted the type on the graphic was almost too small to read. Morikawa's reaction was the opposite of dread.

"Excitement," he said. "I think this is actually creating more opportunities for everyone."

His case is about clarity. Professional golf, Morikawa argued, has never offered a clear-cut schedule, and the uncertainty of waiting at tournaments to learn where you stand "isn't fun." Under the new structure, anyone holding a Tour card in 2028 will know what they are playing. He respects the meritocracy fans love, but he wants the predictability every other sport already has.

"At the end of the day, you play great golf, you're going to be where you want to be," he said. Asked whether he had heard pushback from other players, Morikawa said no, and read the quiet as a good sign.

He was more measured on the week's other story, the fans who heckled Wyndham Clark at the US Open. Morikawa drew a clear line: don't talk while a player is swinging. Beyond that, he said, ethics and morals are an individual call. He praised Clark's poise and pointed out the obvious.

"He's American, and he's won the US Open before, so I don't get the animosity," Morikawa said. He has gotten to know Clark through the Olympic team and trips together, and believes Clark regrets some of his own past moments. "You have to learn and move on from it. That's what we do as people."

When Golf Channel's Eamon Lynch suggested New York might not deserve more big events, Morikawa pushed back on painting a whole state with one brush. He loved Bethpage. He thinks last year's Ryder Cup, with objects thrown at European players, crossed a line. But golf's intimacy, fans standing right against the rope, is the point, not the problem.

Then there is his body. Morikawa is playing a third straight week and still nursing the back he hurt at the Players. He is not at 100%, careful not to reaggravate it with majors stacking up. The swing, at least, feels right.

"When everything's clicking, I feel like I can go out and compete," he said.