WATCH: Golf analyst breaks down Collin Morikawa's free-falling bunker shot from the Zozo Championship
Golf analyst Mark Immelman opened up about the free-falling of Collin Morikawa during the 2024 Zozo Championship. The American competed in the PGA Tour event as the defending champion. During the first round on October 24, while taking his shot on the 18th hole, the American golfer tried to get the ball out of a bunker but he lost his balance and fell. However, he quickly got back up and continued with his game.
Recently, the PGA Tour uploaded a video of the golfer’s unfortunate fall, with analyst Mark Immelman providing commentary on the incident. Speaking of Morikawa’s fall, Immelman said:
"One foot in, one foot out of the sand. Has to draw it to find the fairway, clips it perfectly, lose balance, falls over, pops up, sticks that landing and turns the draw perfectly into the fairway. Ultimately recovery, very very cool.
"Let's rewind and see how he goes about doing this. Trying with both feet in the sand is Morikawa to get that address. But because he needed to draw this ball, he would need to hit, this one in a slightly inside to put path. A path that travels, basically, to the right of the target line. So, in the direction. So, with him dropping that right foot outside the bunker, it actually gives him more space by getting this right hip and the right foot a little out of the way," he added.
Notably, despite the unfortunate fall, Collin Morikawa managed to make par on the hole. However, after a good start, he struggled in the remaining rounds of the tournament.
The 2024 Zozo Championship concluded its finale on Sunday, October 27, in Japan. This year, Nico Echavarría won the event by one stroke. Justin Thomas finished in a two-way tie with Max Greyserman for second place, while Rickie Fowler secured the fourth spot.
A look into Collin Morikawa’s performance at Zozo Championship 2024
Morikawa had a smooth start at the event with a round of 69. He began his campaign with a birdie on the first hole, then added a bogey on the fourth, followed by a double bogey on the sixth hole, and added two birdies on the back nine for a round of 1-under 69.
For the second round, Morikawa teed off on the tenth hole but had a rough start. He shot a double bogey on the 12th, then a birdie on the 13th. He carded three birdies and a double bogey on the front nine and two birdies on the back nine to score 3-under 67.
After two decent rounds, Morikawa struggled in the third round. He shot two birdies and a bogey on the front nine, then added three birdies, two bogeys, and a double bogey on the back nine for an even-par 70. He shot a round of 1-over 71 in the final round with four birdies and five bogeys. After the final round, he slipped down 15 positions and tied for 54th place on the leaderboard.