They found a fairway to heaven! Professional golfer Collin Morikawa has a special support system in his wife, Katherine Zhu.
“She’s been amazing. I’m so lucky to have her,” Morikawa gushed during an August 2020 interview with the Golf Channel’s “Golf Central” broadcast. “Kat’s been by my side through it all. She would hate me if I didn’t say this, but I didn’t start winning in college until she showed up in my life.”
The PGA Tour champ and Zhu, who played collegiate golf at Pepperdine University, were introduced by a mutual friend in 2017 nearly two years before Morikawa turned pro.
Zhu recalled: “[One of my competitors and I] were just being college girls and talking about life [during a summer tournament]. She said, ‘Are you seeing anyone? Let me introduce you to someone,’” she told the New York Post in September 2020. “I said, ‘Sure,’ but I didn’t really think she would actually do it.”
Sure enough, the couple’s pal — who played golf with Morikawa at the University of California, Berkeley — showed him photos from Zhu’s Instagram to pique his interest.
“We started talking through text,” the Canada native told the outlet at the time, noting she finally met Morikawa in person over spring break.
The pair’s romance continued to develop while they finished up their college degrees. Zhu then became her man’s No. 1 cheerleader once he pursued a professional golf career.
“You continue to amaze me every single day. I am so happy to see you accomplish a goal that you’ve worked so hard for! I am so proud of you! Congratulations bby,” she gushed via Instagram in August 2020 after Morikawa won the PGA Championship.
After three years of dating, the Olympian proposed to Zhu in November 2021.
“[I was] way more nervous proposing [than playing in a golf tournament],” Morikawa quipped during a January 2022 interview with PGA Tour. “I mean, it’s not even the same! It’s not even in the same boat. It is so far gone. I mean, golf, I do it every day. Like, it’s normal, proposing is not.”
He continued: “That morning, I practiced [my speech] with my caddie in the Bahamas and we were on a cart and I was driving into ropes and going all over the place. It was nerve-wracking.”
Zhu, who adopted golden doodle Koa with her man in December 2020, accepted the pro athlete’s proposal and they wed one year later.
“Happy 5 years together @collin_morikawa,” Zhu wrote via Instagram in March 2022, nine months before their nuptials. “Can’t believe how much we have been through together, from long distance for 2 years to moving in together for the last 3, getting a dog together and now we’re ENGAGED! Can’t wait to spend a lifetime together with you!”
Scroll below for Morikawa and Zhu’s complete relationship timeline:
