Collin Morikawa surprised by number of athletes recognizing golfers at Olympics, details experience from the Opening Ceremony in Paris

Collin Morikawa has expressed surprise by the number of athletes recognizing golfers at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The opening ceremony was held on Friday, July 26, 2024.

The men's competition at the 2024 Olympics will be played from Thursday, August 1, to Sunday, August 4. In the pre-tournament press conference, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark were asked about their experience at the Opening ceremony. Morikawa was asked how many athletes he interacted with, during the ceremony, liked golf.

He said (via ASAP Sports):

"More than I thought. Way more than I thought."

Morikawa was asked if the number of athletes who liked golf surprised him. He said:

"Yeah, it surprised me."

Wyndham Clark also said that he was surprised and stated that they were being asked for pictures. Clark said:

"It was like, okay, yeah, sure. Track athletes. It was a total -- all over the board, the people who wanted to take pictures and knew who we were. It was cool for us. We felt like mini-celebrities."

Clark was further asked if being known outside of golf made him feel good, to which he responded by saying it did. He said that it showed that golf is doing well and athletes from other sports are watching and wanting to do what the golfers do. He said that he found it very positive and cool.

This will be the second appearance of Collin Morikawa at the Olympics. Morikawa tied for fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and missed the bronze. He'll tee off at 12:06 PM local time on Thursday, August 1, with Matthieu Pavon (FRA) and Matt Fitzpatrick (GBR).

Wyndham Clark will be teeing off for the first time at the Olympics. He'll tee off with Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) at 9:44 AM local time on Thursday.

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A look at Collin Morikawa's performance in 2024

Collin Morikawa has had a great 2024 season. He has had six top-5 finishes and 13 top-20 finishes in 17 starts this year. He is currently fourth in the PGA Tour's FedExCup standings.

Morikawa's best performance came at the Memorial Tournament where he finished second to Scottie Scheffler by one shot. Other notable performances include a T3 finish at the Masters, a fourth finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge, a T4 finish at both the PGA Championship and Scottish Open and a T5 finish at the Sentry.

Let's take a look at Collin Morikawa's performance in the 2024 PGA Tour tournaments:

• The Sentry: T5 (267, -25) (65-67-70-65)
• Farmers Insurance Open: Missed Cut (142, -2) (67-75)
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: T14 (206, -10) (67-70-69)
• The Genesis Invitational: T19 (278, -6) (70-71-70-67)
• Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by Mastercard: Missed Cut (150, +6) (70-80)
• THE PLAYERS Championship: T45 (284, -4) (71-69-70-74)
• Valero Texas Open: T75 (293, +5) (70-74-75-74)
• Masters Tournament: T3 (284, -4) (71-70-69-74)
• RBC Heritage: 9 (271, -13) (65-66-68-72)
• Wells Fargo Championship: T16 (283, -1) (67-70-72-74)
• PGA Championship: T4 (269, -15) (66-65-67-71)
• Charles Schwab Challenge: 4 (272, -8) (68-69-67-68)
• the Memorial Tournament pres. by Workday: 2 (281, -7) (68-74-68-71)
• U.S. Open: T14 (282, +2) (70-74-66-72)
• Travelers Championship: T13 (264, -16) (66-63-66-69)
• Genesis Scottish Open: T4 (266, -14) (65-66-66-69)
• The Open: T16 (286, +2) (73-70-72-71)