Collin Morikawa’s caddie split speaks to deeper search

One month ago, when Collin Morikawa split with longtime caddie J.J. Jakovac and brought in Joe Greiner to carry the bag, he did so because something felt off. The two-time major champion wasn’t able to articulate what that was at the Truist Championship in May, but he thought bringing Greiner on board would allow him to find the right feeling and take more ownership of his game.

But after five tournaments with Greiner on his bag, Morikawa is still searching for the right feel. He split with Greiner after last week’s Travelers Championship, where he finished in a tie for 42nd. He’s in the process of searching for a new caddie.

“When I split with J.J. Jakovac, I had him except for one tournament my entire career, and you get used to that,” Morikawa said Wednesday ahead of the Rocket Classic. “J.J.’s an amazing caddie, and I wish him all the best. So when I leave that, it’s a process for me to find because I only know one way. I think people, they’re going to be surprised, but the way I put it is just because two people are great at what they do doesn’t mean they’re going to be great together.

“I think Joe is an amazing caddie, but I think just the way we kind of saw things, or just day to day, how we kind of went about it, we were just a little bit on a different page. That doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong, but for me it just didn’t feel right.”

He will have his college teammate KK Limbhasut on the bag this week at the Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club (where Morikawa is the betting favorite) but will search for a long-term option before the Open Championship next month, the final major of the season.

“It’s a process that I’m going through,” Morikawa said. “Hopefully we’ll find out when the time comes and I will let everyone know.”

Morikawa, the No. 5-ranked player in the world, opened the season with a runner-up finish at The Sentry. He had a back-nine lead on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before being run down by Russell Henley. He tied for 10th at the Players Championship but has not had a top-10 finish since. Morikawa hasn’t won a tournament since the 2023 Zozo Championship and has been tinkering with other aspects of his game as well, not just who carries his bag.

Last week at the Travelers, Morikawa experimented with hitting some shots without a glove, hoping it would give him more control of the golf ball.

“When it comes down to it, our hands are what makes us such good athletes and such good golfers [because] we have so much feel,” Morikawa said last Thursday. “For some reason, when I’ve taken the glove off this week, it’s kind of worked.”

He then pulled back the curtain on his approach to finding what he’s looking for.

“I’ve done bare feet, so no shoes, and that normally works, but I don’t think I’m going to do that,” he said. “It’s just trying a bunch of things. Look, we’re crazy. Honestly, we’re crazy because we try a lot of things, but that’s what makes us really good is we’re trying to find the little things.”

There were reports that Morikawa was trying out different putters this week at Detroit Golf Club after he put a new Olson gamer in the bag last week. He lost over eight strokes putting at the 2025 U.S. Open and once again struggled with the flat stick during the Travelers.

However, the six-time PGA Tour winner said he won’t be changing his gamer this week. But that can always change.

As for the caddie, Morikawa said in May that he needed to “take accountability” for what he’s doing on the golf course. That line was reminiscent of what Rory McIlroy said when he split with longtime caddie JP Fitzgerald after 22 worldwide wins and 95 weeks as World No. 1 back in 2017.

“I have been putting this line out there for a while that I’m trying to take ownership of my game a little bit more and trying to take more responsibility,” McIlroy said at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after parting with Fitzgerald. “I’ve been walking the course with my own yardage book this week and trying to sort more things out myself.”

Morikawa is trying to do the same. Greiner wasn’t the long-term answer, and Morikawa was aware that his search — both for a new caddie and a way back into the winner’s circle — was going to take longer than most expected.

“I have to explore other options. I knew that coming in,” Morikawa said. “I knew it was going to be a great start and it was going to be a fun thing for me to test out that I knew I put myself in, but at the end of the day you don’t know how you’re going to be, because we spend more time with them than anyone else in the world honestly. I spend more time with them than my wife sometimes. It’s a true relationship.”

Morikawa is searching for something. He’s looking for a feeling. That expedition could go on for some time. He knows this and is prepared for the potentially long quest ahead.