The first word was “sadness.”
Minutes after signing his scorecard, Collin Morikawa was straight in scoring his final round at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, in what he described as the most frustrating experience of his career.
Morikawa began Sunday at Kapalua’s Plantation Course six shots out of the hole in the first PGA TOUR event of 2023. He birdied three of his first six holes Sunday and was bogey-free for the first 67 holes of the event. He seemed unfazed.
Until he was undone by three consecutive putts on Nos. 14-16, missing pars from 10, 8 and 7 feet, respectively. Morikawa posted a final-round 1-under 72 to finish solo second at 25-under, two behind John Rahm, who capitalized on Morikawa’s mishaps with a final-round 10-under 63 that included a 5-under stretching No. 12-15 Sunday.
“It sucks,” Morikawa said. “You work so hard and give yourself those opportunities, and just bad timing on bad shots, and it kind of adds up real quick. I don’t know what I’ll learn this week, but it doesn’t seem that far off. It really wasn’t.
“Yeah, it sucks.”
Morikawa hasn’t won on TOUR since The Open in July 2021; this marks his third runner-up finish since then. He arrived at a relaxed Kapalua inspired by recent work with new putting coach Stephen Sweeney and the stats backed him up as he averaged nearly two strokes gained on the greens through the first three rounds.
Sunday was a different story, however, as Morikawa missed birdies from 3 and 7 feet on the fifth and ninth holes, respectively. His lead was in the five to seven stroke range for most of the day, but he was unable to increase the margin to an insurmountable point. The bogeys came and Ram took advantage.
The first bogie was probably the most excruciating. After finding a greenside front bunker on the 284-yard, par-4 14th hole, Morikawa missed the long green on his second shot. He jumped to 10 feet and couldn’t convert the par shot.
That’s when he started to feel like he might be losing control of the situation, he said.
“I have been in this bunker; it’s not like an impossible bunker shot,” Morikawa said. “Usually 10 out of 10 times, worst case you put it within 15 feet. I caught him thinly.
“Everything was fine. You make a splash there at 14, you’re like, OK, you’re 15, you’re 18, we’re still in it, we’re still right there. No problem.
“Then 15, just pushed the 5 wood enough and knew it was going to roll down. I’ve been practicing that chip a lot too, but obviously not enough.’
Despite Sunday’s stumble, Morikawa remains optimistic about the spring ahead. He’ll stay in Hawaii for a quick vacation before returning to TOUR for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines later this month. He also plans to participate in the WM Phoenix Open and The Genesis Invitational.
It wasn’t the preferred result this time, but every week in competition represents a valuable learning experience. Morikawa sees better days – and adding to his five TOUR titles – just around the corner.
“I can finally say it’s not going back to the drawing board after this week,” Morikawa said. “It’s really just figuring out the little things. My game hasn’t felt like this in a very long time; I saw little specs of it all fall season and never managed to put together four rounds. 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 ready to put in the work.
“I think at this point now, hopefully, it’s just going to push me more and more to really understand what it’s going to take for 72 holes.”
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