Collin Morikawa announces engagement

Collin Morikawa has a chance of reaching world No. 1 in The Bahamas this week but the five-time PGA TOUR winner already has an even bigger lasting memory after becoming engaged in the island nation.

Morikawa – who recently became the first American to win the European Tour (now DP World Tour) Race to Dubai – announced his engagement to long-time partner Katherine Zhu on his Instagram page.

The 24-year-old admitted to facing nerves greater than anything he’d experienced on the golf course… despite the fact he’s already a two-time major champion. With the blessing of Zhu’s parents, he put his plan into action.

“It happened Tuesday in The Bahamas. We took a boat ride around Nassau and stopped at this beach I had researched and picked as the spot. I wanted to make sure I proposed on the beach, because I was so worried about dropping the ring into the water. After that, we ended up spending half the day together in the water,” Morikawa told PGATOUR.COM.

“I had never been so nervous as I was before proposing. We didn’t get into The Bahamas until about midnight Monday… my caddie and I got out to the course early Tuesday to practice. I was driving the cart and was close to running into ropes… I was not only tired, but was kind of freaking out, too. Even though I believed she was going to say yes, it’s a one-time opportunity and I wanted to make it really special. I was really nervous.”

Zhu, who goes by Kat, has been in Morikawa’s life for almost five years, dating back to his time in college before he turned professional. A mutual friend introduced them despite the fact she played golf at Pepperdine in Southern California while Morikawa was at Cal in the north of the state. After a spring break together, they began a long-distance relationship.

“She has been there for me from the very beginning, long before I was ‘Collin Morikawa’ to the public. That’s the coolest thing to me. She doesn’t care how I play or what happens out there. She loves me for me. She has been amazing,” Morikawa explained.

“An interesting little caveat is that I never once won a college event until she and I connected and started texting. It’s been pretty good since, I’d have to say… long distance, that’s not easy, but we were having fun and enjoying it. We just kept going and things got better and better.”

Morikawa has the chance to reach top spot in the OWGR with victory at the Hero World Challenge this week in just his 61ststart, which would be second only to tournament host Tiger Woods who surged there in just 21 tournaments.

Regardless of his on-course efforts at Albany, Morikawa says he’s already at the top of the world.

“I’m just glad she said yes and that we can keep going on,” he smiled. “We have a lot to plan and talk about, so we haven’t set a date yet. But we are going to really enjoy the time.”