Collin Morikawa ready for 1st crack at Oakmont, but he has won in Western Pennsylvania before

While Dustin Johnson was winning the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, 50 miles east, Collin Morikawa was winning the Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown.

Morikawa, now 28, was in the midst of becoming one of the top-ranked golfers in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. He was No. 1 for a three-week period.

“Yeah, they were great,” Morikawa said of the people running Sunnehanna. “They were amazing. The people we stayed with, the host families, hanging out with your buddies, long drive competitions, just a lot of fun.

“Amateur golf is — I enjoyed it so much because it is just pure golf. We had a lot of fun.”

Morikawa played the Sunnehanna Amateur from 2015-2018 while he played collegiate golf at the University of California at Berkeley.

“It is a lot of good memories. Someone asked me if I had been to Pittsburgh before, and I said I had not, and then I remember we used to fly into Pittsburgh and take the two-hour van ride over,” Morikawa said. “It is bringing back a lot of good memories, obviously having won there before. Hopefully, we can make it pretty special out here in this area.”

He turned pro in 2019 and immediately made 22 consecutive cuts. He secured PGA Tour membership for the 2019-20 season by finishing tied for second at the 3M Open and tied for fourth at the John Deere Classic.

Later that year, he won his first professional tournament at the Barracuda Championship.

In August 2020, he won the PGA Championship and in July 2021, he won the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s.

This is the seventh time that Morikawa has played in the U.S. Open. He’s made the cut five times, and his best finish was in 2021 when he finished fourth at Torrey Pines. He has also tied for fifth in 2022 and has two 14th-place finishes.

He has seven career tour wins.

So how will he attack Oakmont?

“This was my first time here,” Morikawa said. “I know a lot of guys took trips before, but this was my first look of Oakmont and what it has to offer on Monday, and man, it is just tough.

“You keep hearing the word tough and rough, a lot of rhyming words, but overall, you must hit the ball really well. You know you are going to get penalized even on good shots, and that’s just part of this golf course. We will see how it plays out.”

Morikawa said the greens already on Tuesday are getting a lot faster than they were Monday.

“Depending on the weather, you must adapt to that as the week goes on,” Morikawa said.

During Monday’s practice round, Morikawa had an “oops” on No. 8, the more than 300-yard par 3.

“I completely forgot that was the long par-3, and I honestly asked Joe, my caddie, and everyone in the group, I was like, ‘Is this like a — do you go for this par-4 or do you lay up?’” Morikawa said. “I recommend going for it. I will probably hit driver or 3-wood and hopefully hit the green. Honestly, there is not a ton of strategy other than like hitting your driver within 15 yards or your 3-wood within 15 yards. Just hit and hope, honestly. It’s a hole I’ll take four pars right now and walk away.”

Morikawa is not the only Sunnehanna alumnus playing in the 125th U.S. Open this week at Oakmont. Others include Phil Mickelson, Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Speith and Jason Day.

The 83rd Sunnehanna Amateur begins Wednesday and five Western Pennsylvania players are competing. They are Sewickley’s J.F. Aber, Pittsburgh’s Nathan Piatt, Canonsburg’s Rocco Salvitti, Pittsburgh’s David Fuhrer II and Harrison City’s Nick Turowski.

Those five would love to be part of the U.S. Open when it returns in 2034.