Colin Morikawa was left wondering what happened as he failed to reach the final hole with a six-shot lead to start Sunday.
Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports
Kapalua, Hawaii — Professional golf is one of the most difficult sports to reach for a handicap. That was proven again on idyllic Maui on Sunday. There, Colin Morikawa gave up what he called an insurmountable lead and lost.
Before jumping to say it wasn’t right, the seven-shot lead over Jon Rahm was clearly not insurmountable, as Rahm posted a stellar 10-under 63 and outright won the tournament, but Morikawa scored 1 under 72.
Think about it carefully. Do you bet on Rahm before the final round? A wild and hairy plantation course, scored in spectacular proportions and the leaders never bogeyed.
In the real world, when the other three started the day sixth and Rahm seventh, somehow he was nine shots behind when he bogeyed on the first hole and Morikawa birdied on the 18th footer. Rahm reaches one conclusion early on. , It was Morikawa’s day.
Morikawa leads by 6 strokes on the turn as well. At what point is anyone sane enough to think Morikawa can’t win?
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Final round start |
7 shots |
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After 1st hole |
9 shots |
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After the 6th hole |
7 shots |
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After the 9th hole |
6 shots |
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After the 12th hole |
5 shots |
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After the 13th hole |
4 shots |
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After the 14th hole |
draw player |
The moment the two-time Grand Slam winner thinned a wedge from the greenside bunker on the 14th hole, Morikawa felt that the tournament he had controlled for 67 holes was slipping away.
“When I was walking to 12th I saw him make a birdie and at that point I thought I was still at least third. I knew I still had a chance and the game was looking good. I felt Rahm exhale from my neck. “But when I made a bogey on 14 and they pulled away on 15, I didn’t look at the leaderboard until I got on the green and you said you had to par for me to keep the lead. At that point, it feels a little different than what you had at first.
Morikawa hadn’t hit a single bogey until Sunday 14th, when he hit three bogeys in a row to drop from the lead and never regain the lead he could never give up.
Then, the question cannot be avoided whether Morikawa lost or Lahm won.
“A 1-under at this course is not a good score, not really,” Morikawa said. “He still hit 63. If I didn’t bogey, I was still within reach. I made par. We’re right there. So he needed Occasionally I’ve definitely made birdies, but I’ve also made bogeys. Bogeys at that time of the tournament cost money.
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Bobby Cruickshank |
1928 Florida Open |
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gay brewer |
1969 Danny Thomas Diplomat Classic |
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Hal Sutton |
1983 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic |
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Greg Norman |
1996 Masters |
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Sergio Garcia |
2005 Wells Fargo Championship |
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Spencer Levin |
2012 WM Phoenix Open |
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Dustin Johnson |
2017 WGC-HSBC Champion |
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Scotty Schaeffler |
2022 Tour Championship |
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Colin Morikawa |
2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions |
Jordan Spieth knows how Morikawa feels after leaving a big lead on the cutting room floor.
At the 2016 Masters, Spieth reached the back nine at Augusta National by five shots, and the green-jacketed devil emerged from the pine forest as Spieth threw Danny Willett for five.
He returned a few weeks later to win at Colonial, but the sting stayed with him for some time.
“I’ve had leads that I’ve lost, but I’ve had a lot of leads that I’ve held,” Spieth said. , is that we lost them during the round and had a big lead in getting them back, and to find a way to play against the golf course…a specific goal of the day.
Ironically, Morikawa performed well enough to win on Sunday, birdies on the 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th in the third round on Saturday, but was instead forced to play several of the same holes. It was a disappointing runner-up finish due to a long bogey. sorrow.
“It sucks. You work hard, you give yourself chances, you badly time bad shots, and they pile up really quickly.” No, it really wasn’t.”