“Sadness” - Collin Morikawa on making a historic collapse at 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions
For Collin Morikawa, things were going so smoothly for the first 54 holes that he was hardly expecting the turnaround that happened in the last round. In the last round, he gave away his six-stroke lead to eventually settle for the runner-up position.
Three poor swings cost Morikawa the title. Collin was visibly disappointed with what happened at the Plantation Course in Kapalua as he joined the list of players to throw away the six-stroke lead on the PGA Tour.
Collin Morikawa said it was a sad feeling to have made such a blunder.
"Sadness. I don’t know. It sucks. You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities and just bad timing on bad shots and it kind of added up really quickly.”
However, this isn't the first time the five-time winner on the PGA Tour has squandered his comfortable lead. He also threw away his five-shot lead in the last round of the Hero World Challenge 2021, which was won by Viktor Hovland.
Collin Morikawa had a different perspective on the two similar cases. He stated that he wasn't feeling good about the Hero World Challenge from the start and didn't find any rhythm there, which wasn't the case at Kapalua.
"Hero started off bad, never found it, never felt good, just bad. Today it felt fine. Just made three poor swings, really, at the wrong times. It’s never a good time to put a poor swing on it, but sometimes it works out and these never worked out.”
Morikawa was so impressive at the Sentry Tournament of Champions that his first bogey of the week came on the 14th hole on Sunday. He bogeyed the next two shots as well, eventually losing the lead to Jon Rahm. His score of 1 under 72 was the second worst of the day. Rahm's last seven holes were at 6 under compared to Morikawa, whose score was 2 over in his final seven holes
“At that point, it’s a little different feeling than what you had early on," said Morikawa to the press.
Collin Morikawa's upcoming plans
Collin Morikawa said he’ll be on holiday for a few days in Hawaii, although he said it won't be fun. On the professional front, he will next be seen teeing up at the at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego at the end of January. He will then move next to the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, followed by the Genesis Invitational (February 16-19), where he ended at T-2 last time.
The 25-year-old American recently consulted Stephen Sweeny and Parker McLachlin to improve his putting and chipping game.
“We’re still getting there, but for me I know there’s still a lot of work to do. Obviously, it shows today, but I’m willing to put in that work,” said the two-time Major champion.
Since turning pro, Collin Morikawa has quickly jumped the success ladder. In just 77 Tour starts, he already has five titles and two of them are Major Championships, including the 2019 PGA Championship and 2021 Open Championship. Apart from the five wins, he has finished 26 times in the top 10.
He has made cuts in all three starts this season but is still in search of a win since 2021.