Born in Canada, brought up in China, and residing in the United States. In short, that sums up the life of Katherine Zhu, Collin Morikawa’s wife. Zhu was born on January 13, 1996, in Vancouver, Canada. But then her family moved to China.
She attended the Zhuji Hailiang Private High School, in Shaoxing. After that, she left for Stateside, taking admission to Pepperdine as an International management student. How does a multicultural background help her? Zhu once explained that having lived through different cultures makes her appreciate the diversity in the game.
“That’s really helped me to play golf, because I meet different people when playing in tournaments. It provided me a broader perspective of the world, and I got to understand more about the sport, people,and my teammates better,” the Las Vegas resident told Pepperdine Waves in 2016.
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Her parents were also athletes. Her father, Mike Chu, was a tennis player. Whereas, her mother was a track athlete. Having two sportspersons as parents, Zhu was initiated into different sports quite early in her life.
Her father also played soccer. Zhu, however, started with Tennis, winning an amateur title at 13. Zhu also flirted with the idea of becoming a track and field athlete like her mother. Shifting to Malibu for higher studies changed that. At Pepperdine, her attention turned to Golf. And, that’s how she met her current husband, Collin Morikawa.
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Zhu and Morikawa’s golf connection
Katherine Zhu was an ace collegiate golfer having earned multiple accolades at Pepperdine. She was a WGCA All-American Scholar, Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar, and WCC All-Academic. Despite attending different universities – Morikawa is a UC Berkeley alum – they met through a mutual friend who wanted Zhu to meet Morikawa, according to US Weekly.
That common friend apparently showed Zhu’s Instagram handle to Morikawa as well. They started texting each other. Morikawa and Zhu didn’t meet in person till spring break. Spring does bring something special as their new relationship started blossoming. Five years later, the couple finally decided to tie the knot. By that time, Morikawa has cemented his status as a PGA Tour pro.
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In an interview with Golf Central, the six-time PGA Tour winner said, “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.”
So far, Zhu has been the ‘lucky charm’ in Morikawa’s life. Now in Canada, the country where she was born, will Katherine Zhu conjure magic for her husband again? We have to wait till Sunday for that answer.