Collin Morikawa ranked fourth in the world, teams again with Kurt Kitayama in 2025 Zurich Classic

Morikawa has two major titles among his six PGA Tour victories

NEW ORLEANS, LA (March 26, 2025)— Collin Morikawa, currently ranked fourth in the world, will team with Kurt Kitayama for a second consecutive year in the 2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, announced Steve Worthy, CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producer of the tournament.

“Collin and Kurt posted some very low scores in the best ball format last year ,” said Worthy.  “Clearly they are comfortable with each other, and we are excited to have them repeat as partners,” Worthy added.

Morikawa is currently ranked fourth in the world and has been ranked as high as second in the world. He is also fourth in FedExCup points this season. He has posted two seconds and a tie for 10^th in the five tournaments he has entered. He finished tied for 17^th in the other two events this year.

Last season he posted eight top-10 finishes, including two seconds, one of which was the Tour Championship

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 14^th 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.

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.

In last year’s Presidents Cup, Morikawa went undefeated in team play with four wins paired with three different partners.

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.

He represented the U.S. again in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, finishing tied for 24^th.

Kurt Kitayama won his first PGA Tour title in the 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard by one stroke over Rory McIlroy. That season, 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.

Last season he posted four top-10 finishes, including a solo fifth in the ZOZO Championship.

Earlier in his career, he won three times on the DP World Tour before returning to the U.S. to compete. 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.

His first hole-in-one was on a par 4, the 16th hole at Southern Highlands GC in Las Vegas.

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 2024, the Fore!Kids Foundation generated a record $3.3 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:

• $3.3 million in 2024
• Over $22.9 Million to charities in last 10 years
• Over $51 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 21 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 2024 Zurich Classic had over a $59 million economic impact to the regional economy. Since Zurich became title sponsor in 2005, the tournament has generated more than $700 million in estimated economic activity for the New Orleans community.

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 21–27, 2025, at TPC Louisiana in Avondale. Purse for 2025 totals a record $9.2 million.

All tickets to the 2025 Zurich Classic will be mobile entry only. Day-specific grounds tickets are only $45. 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 $185 per day. The Walk-On’s Stadium Club offers close-up viewing at the 17^th 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