Kapalua, Hawaii — Colin Morikawa can make golf look simple. He has the shot in mind and the ball is heading where he sees it. The difference in the Sentry Tournament of Champions is that shots on the green are included.
He was particularly effective on Saturday when he scored back-to-back goals in Kapalua’s back nine. Morikawa birdied four of the final five holes to pull away.
He finished 8-under 65 on a 15-foot birdie putt to give him a 6-shot lead going into the final round, giving him a great chance to remove last year’s bitterness.
Morikawa smiled when asked if he was hungry to win again.
“Yeah, that’s an understatement,” he said.
The two-time major champion hired putting coach Stephen Sweeney late last year. Other than a better understanding of what he’s doing, nothing much has changed in his stroke. He leads Kapalua’s field in putting, coupled with his pure iron play.
Morikawa has yet to bogey over 54 holes on the Plantation Course and has rarely come close. He made a 10-footer par on his 4th hole and evaded his long 3-putt, making it as pure as many birdies.
“Today was very simple. For the last three days, what I was looking for was where the ball was going,” he said. “I kind of know what I’m doing right. When I hit a bad shot, I know what I did wrong. That’s the biggest thing.”
Morikawa was 24-under 195, six strokes ahead of US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and Texas Open winner JJ Spaun.
Morikawa is one of 10 Kapalua players who didn’t win last year. With prize money now worth $15 million, the PGA Tour has opted to expand the field to include everyone who reaches the FedEx-His Cup finale in East He Lake.
One more round like this would secure Morikawa a tee time for next year.
Schaeffler, who started two strokes behind Spaun, tried to catch Morikawa. But the birdies dried up on the back nine, and Schaeffler missed a four-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th, so at least he was in the final group.
Fitzpatrick scored five birdies on the last seven holes of round 66 and will be in the final group on his first trip to Hawaii.
Spawn dropped two shots on the back nine. he was 69.
Max Hohma had no trouble making a career-high 10 birdies and 63 birdies. It was just that he was within eight shots of the lead.
“I didn’t feel like I played four shots better than the last two days combined, but I did,” he said. was good.”
Jordan Spieth started the third round three strokes behind and hit three bogeys in round 71 to lose.
Everyone chases after Morikawa, and there is nothing we can do about it.
Morikawa started the scoring with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 5th hole, then made a tough 20-foot birdie on the next par 5, and got it all right with few mistakes.
The turning point came early on the 6th hole, when Morikawa and Schaeffler each eagled and the lead was still two. Morikawa made a birdie on his 20-footer, and Schaeffler came up from the fluffy lie in the rough to the front of the green and went down with a three-putt. The lead was 4 for him and the rest he was not more than 3 shots behind.
Only seven players in PGA Tour history have lost a six-shot lead heading into the final round, most recently in the 2022 Tour Championship against Schaeffler.
When asked when he last made a big difference, Morikawa smiled and mentioned the Hero World Challenge at the end of 2021.
“I’m fine,” he said. “I gave up.”
Winds were forecast to weaken for the final round, but Morikawa expected the players behind him to fire at the flag and try to catch him.
From what Spaun saw Morikawa in the second round, that might not be enough.
“He puts really good. He doesn’t miss a shot,” Spaun said. “It’s a combo that’s hard to beat.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Leave a Reply