Collin Morikawa didn’t speak to reporters on Sunday after the Arnold Palmer Invitational when the tournament that he led by three strokes with five holes to play slipped away.
On Tuesday, amid his preparation for The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Morikawa explained his emotions after Russell Henley eagled the 16th hole to come from one stroke back and win by one shot at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando.
For the 28-year-old Morikawa, alone clearly was better.
“No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I didn’t want to be around anyone.” he told reporters. “Like, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t need any ‘sorries’. I didn’t need any ‘good playings’.”
Frankly, he was just too mad and worn down to speak.
“Honestly, if it was an hour later I would have talked to you guys, but an hour later I was on my way out to here (The Players), because I didn’t want to be in Orlando anymore. … I was just drained,” he said.
Morikawa is the No. 4 player in the world and has six wins on the PGA Tour, including two majors (PGA Championship in 2020, The Open in 2021). He has two runner-up finishes this year — The Sentry and the Arnold Palmer — and is trying to turn his focus from the latter to closing out tournaments.
“Sunday night was a lot of frustration. Just looking back over the past year and kind of how I went about my fall was to figure out how to play better in final rounds, and when you don’t play well and you don’t close it out, you’re like, how do we go back to the drawing board,” he said.
“It’s not really rip everything off and start over, but there’s just little things, right. Obviously I wasn’t hitting it as well, I wasn’t putting as well, but I still had my chances to close it out, and Russ (Henley) obviously played some great golf. I mean, to make birdie on 14, eagle on 16 and finish out with two pars is great golf out there. So props to him.
“But there’s just small things. I love being in that position. Like, I don’t take it for granted because you just never know. But it was frustrating Sunday night. I have to get over it. I mean, I’m back on my two feet; I’m trying to figure out how to play my best golf here for this week. … I just have to move on and I have to learn from it. I have to keep getting better. Like I always say, like, you know, why not win this week.”
His history at The Players isn’t the best. In four appearances, he’s missed one cut and registered a T13, T41 and T45, but he sounded upbeat Tuesday about the challenge awaiting at TPC Sawgrass.
“I honestly think it’s one of the best golf courses we play all year, not just from the conditions but just how it tests your game,” he said. “You have to be on in all aspects from the tee to the green, putting. Nothing’s easy.
“There’s some courses out there — I mean, last week, one of those courses you just can’t let up even if it’s a par-5. Bogeys can come in an instant. This is one of those. There’s I would never say easy holes, but there’s some gettable holes out here, but in turn you just have to play really, really good golf if you want to finish up on top.”
He hasn’t finished on top since a six-stroke win at the Zozo Championship in Japan in October 2023. But in the past two-plus seasons, he has six runner-up finishes and 17 top 10s.
He knows the potential for the next win is just around the corner.
“I’m working harder than ever,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out things in more and more detail. … I feel great because I know I can keep putting myself in contention, and if I just keep doing that it’s going to happen. Like it’s not a — I said it when I won at ZOZO or in Japan; it’s not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when. But for me it does (stink) because I do look back at the wins and I do care about winning, so that’s where it kind of hurts.”
