The 16th hole at TPC Harding Park curves gently to the right, a short par 4 made more difficult by the swirling crosswinds off the Pacific and the gargantuan Monterey cypresses that line the fairway. On Sunday, the pin stood 294 yards from the tee, tucked just behind a greenside bunker.
It won’t ever go down as one of golf’s great holes. But it’s already the most significant one in the career of Collin Morikawa, golf’s newest major champion.
Around 5:15 local time on Sunday afternoon, Morikawa stepped up to the tee at 16. He was tied with Paul Casey, a player 20 years his senior, and one stroke ahead of an entire truckload of challengers.