Morikawa, Kitayama team up for Zurich Classic

Morikawa has finished top five in two majors in addition to his two wins

NEW ORLEANS, LA (March 21, 2024)— Collin Morikawa, who has won two major titles among his six PGA Tour victories, will team with Kurt Kitayama in the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the tournament.

“Both Collin and Kurt represent players with big wins on their resume,” said Worthy. “They took different paths to reach the PGA Tour but both have had success and we are excited for their first appearance as partners in New Orleans,” Worthy added.

Morikawa is currently ranked 18th in the world and has been ranked as high as second in the world in recent years. He started his PGA Tour career by making his first 22 consecutive cuts, the most since Tiger Woods set the record at 25.

He won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship, both in his debut in those events.

Morikawa launched his professional career in 2019 with a tie for 14th at the RBC Canadian Open, then tied for second at the 3M Open after leading the tournament at 54 holes. The next week he tied for fourth at the John Deere Classic to earn his PGA Tour card and went on to win his first PGA Tour title two weeks later at the Barracuda Championship.

He won the 2020 PGA Championship in August at Harding Park with a memorable eagle on the 16th hole in the final round. He then won the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship in February 2021.

He became only the second player to win a major and a WGC title before the age of 25. The other player to accomplish that feat was Tiger Woods.

Later that season, he won The Open Championship at Royal St. George’s for his second major title in two years. In the 2020-21 season he posted two wins, a second, fourth in the U.S. Open, three ties for seventh and eighth in the PGA Championship.

He also won the 2021 DP World (European) Tour Championship that year, the first American to take that title.

Last season he posted seven top-10 finishes, including two seconds and a win at the season-ending Zozo Championship.

In his first Ryder Cup competition in 2021, he went undefeated, with three wins in team play and a half in singles. He also made the 2023 Ryder Cup team.

In the 2022 Presidents Cup, as a captain’s pick, he posted a record of 2-1, winning his singles match and splitting his two team matches.

Morikawa was a three-time first team All-American at University of California where he was named 2018 Golfweek Men’s National Player of the Year and earned Pac-12 Player of the Year honors in 2019. He also reached the number one position in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

He was named to the 2017 Walker Cup team, the 2017 and 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup squads and won the 2018 Eisenhower Trophy.

He represented the U.S. in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing in an unprecedented seven-way tie for the bronze medal. The group was so large it had to be split in two for the playoff. He outlasted five of the contestants but lost the bronze to C.T. Pan of Taiwan on the fourth playoff hole when his putt slid just past the hole.

Kurt Kitayama won his first PGA Tour title in last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard by one stroke over Rory McIlroy. The Arnold Palmer Invitational was an elevated tournament that awarded extra FedExCup points to the winner and an extended PGA Tour exemption. Kitayama was also runner-up at the CJ Cup, finished tied for fifth at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and took a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship.

His best finish this season has been a tie for eighth at the WM Phoenix Open.

He won three times on the DP World Tour before coming back to the U.S. to play. He earned his PGA Tour card in 2021 at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, and four months later in February, 2022, he recorded a third place finish at the Honda Classic. In May of that year he posted a tie for second at the Mexico Open.

In college, he played for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas where he was named to the Academic-All Mountain West team three consecutive years.

About Fore!Kids Foundation:

Since 1958, the Fore!Kids Foundation has raised money to fund children’s service organizations through golf events like the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and several charitable golf tournaments.

In 2023, the Fore!Kids Foundation generated a record $2.843 million in charitable giving for children’s charities in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge metro areas. Charitable contributions have been rising in recent years:
· Over $2.843 Million to charities in 2023
· Over $20 Million to charities in last 10 years
· Over $48 Million to charities since inception

More information at http://www.forekidsfoundation.com.

About the Zurich Classic of New Orleans:

Zurich Insurance has sponsored the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for 20 years, one of the longest title sponsor relationships on the PGA Tour. The Zurich Classic is the only team tournament on the PGA TOUR season. Since launching the team format in 2017, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has drawn some of the highest-ranking fields for any regular-season tournament on the PGA TOUR.

The Zurich Classic has over a $40 million economic impact to the regional economy. With 42 hours of total television coverage on Golf Channel and CBS, a total of 13 million viewers tuned in to watch the tournament.

Internationally, PGA TOUR coverage of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans is available across 148 countries and territories via local broadcast partners, and garners $33 million in positive national and international media exposure for both the city and state throughout the year beyond the days of professional competition.

The tournament will be played April 24-28, 2024, at TPC Louisiana in Avondale. Purse for 2024 totals a record $8.9 million, with each member of the winning team earning $1,286,050 and 400 FedExCup points.

All tickets to the 2024 Zurich Classic will be mobile entry only. Day-specific grounds tickets are only $40. In addition, the Best of the Zurich Class Pass offers a variety of dishes from some of New Orleans most famous restaurants at three locations across the TPC course starting at $175 per day, and the Walk-On’s Stadium Club will offer close-up viewing at the 17th hole in the only two-story, air-conditioned tent on the course. Additional ticket options are available by calling the Tournament Office at 504-342-3000 or online at www.zurichgolfclassic.com