For Collin Morikawa, the motto is pretty straightforward: it [team partnership] has to feel right for it to work. In search of this right “feel,” Morikawa first split up with his long-time looper J.J. Jakovac in April, then joined hands with Joe Greiner for five events before splitting with him as well. Following the split, his old college teammate, KK Limbhasut, joined him for the 2025 Rocket Classic. And now, Morikawa has found another solution with Billy Foster. Is it working? Only Morikawa can answer that about his “two-week thing, for now,” Foster.
Why two weeks? Well, as per Bunkered’s Ben Parson, Collin Morikawa and the legendary looper, Billy Foster, will work together for both the ongoing Genesis Scottish Open and the upcoming The Open Championship at Royal Portrush. There’s no report if they will continue this partnership following the fourth men major. However, given Foster’s previous work with Seve Ballesteros, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, and the 2022 U.S. Open winner, Matt Fitzpatrick, Morikawa had nothing but great things to say about Foster.
Currently active at the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, Collin Morikawa began his assessment with his first round with Foster with, “It was great. I think he was liking the putts that were dropping. I made quite a few throughout that middle round of the stretch — or middle stretch of the round.” In the first round, Collin Morikawa’s strokes gained (SG) off the tee was slightly poor, placing him at 101st. However, his putting was a bright spot, with an SG of 1.166, good for 27th place. Morikawa finished his opening round with a score of 68. So, that was a pretty good start.
Given the stats, Morikawa continued, “But it’s just a lot of fun. He’s obviously got a lot of stories, and I enjoy those. Just asking questions about Seve, Westwood and Clarke and even Fitz. He’s not tried to change my game but he’s already learned my game and how I need to play out here. And I’ve leaned a lot on him so far through one round, and I’m going to keep doing that the next two weeks.”
However, the two have a big responsibility at The Renaissance. The two-time major winner arrives at the Genesis Scottish Open ranked No. 15 in the season-long FedExCup standings. This season, he has achieved 10 top-25 finishes in 14 events; however, he is still in pursuit of his first TOUR victory since the 2023 Baycurrent Classic.
Collin Morikawa and Billy Foster teaming up in Scotland #GenesisScottishOpen | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/giCF2fIbuO
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 7, 2025
In fact, ahead of the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, Morikawa had a similar thing to say about Foster. Then, he said, “Yesterday out playing, he told me some good Seve stories and I’m very lucky to have someone like that to be able to hop on the bag for a couple of weeks and just enjoy it.” “But are ‘good Seve stories’ enough to fuel a win this week? No, or so two golf analysts believe.
Golf analysts don’t believe the first Collin Morikawa-Billy Foster run would be successful
Still hopeful about ending his two-year-long winless streak, Morikawa looks forward to competing at the Genesis Scottish Open. Despite some strong performances this season, many analysts do not consider him a frontrunner at The Renaissance. In a recent episode of Golf on CBS, Shane Bacon and Patrick McDonald discussed potential winners for the Scottish Open, and surprisingly, they included Morikawa among the players they believe cannot win.
The rationale behind Morikawa’s exclusion? McDonald stated, “He and Billy Foster are going to be feeling each other out a little bit this week, as people typically do on first dates. So, I’m gonna say he can’t win.” And, alright, that’s something that even Morikawa has admitted plenty of times ahead of the 2025 Genesis Scottish Open, as stated above.
In fact, ahead of the Scottish Open, Morikawa admitted, “One, go and have fun. And two, just be simple, execute the shots. At the end of the day, that’s what golf is. So, hopefully, we can enjoy these two weeks as much as we can.”
So, is looking for the right “feel” and “enjoying” this partnership going to be harmful for him? Well, McDonald believes that. Interestingly, their discussion about Morikawa and Foster is particularly jarring, considering Shane Bacon picked Matt Fitzpatrick – Foster’s former employer – as the favorite to win the co-sanctioned PGA Tour and DP World Tour event.
So, will Collin Morikawa’s search for the right “feel” hinder him in the next two weeks? Only his performance will tell.
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