PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Collin Morikawa may not have stopped to talk with the media after losing the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he had plenty to say Tuesday ahead of The Players Championship.
Morikawa had a three-shot lead late on the back nine at Bay Hill before a fast finish from Russell Henley – a birdie-bogey swing on the 14th hole, an unlikely chip-in eagle on 16 and then two stout pars to close – earned him the biggest victory of his career.
Morikawa was already on his way out of town while Henley’s post-victory obligations were wrapping up.
“Just heated,” he said. “Just pissed.”
Morikawa hasn’t won since fall 2023 but it hasn’t been for a lack of opportunities. Last year, still not totally in command of his game, he managed eight top-10s (including two runners-up ) despite a final-round scoring average that was outside the top 100 on Tour. That led to some introspection last fall as he sought to understand how the game had all come so easily to him earlier in his career, leading to two quick majors – and what can be done now.
“Early on, I just played a lot better,” he said of this final-round performance, including in his major victories when he shot 64 and 66 on Sunday. “You can look at strokes gained and whatnot now, but there’s just a different comfort level in the game and freedom that I had back then that I’m slowly getting back right now, and you’ve just to got to keep inching at it.”
Morikawa doesn’t necessarily think he lost Bay Hill on Sunday; he was quick to point out the quality of Henley’s shots on the back nine. But Morikawa also conceded that he wasn’t sharp enough to win.
“That’s why I think it’s really frustrating,” Morikawa said. “If you get beat, you get beat – I can’t do anything about that. But I knew I had more inside of me to control for that day to where I’m like, Man, if I have two more birdies, I win the tournament. So I look at it both ways. And that’s why it sucked. That’s why you’re pissed. But you’ve got to move on.”
More than a dozen questions Tuesday were about Morikawa’s Sunday and how he felt in that moment, how he rationalized the defeat, how he’ll learn from it moving forward. At times, he struck a defiant tone, saying that he knows he’s giving himself plenty of opportunities – and he’ll convert them. Soon. Perhaps even this week at The Players.
“If you take solace in the fact of, Oh, man, it’s really, really hard to win, to me, that mindset isn’t where I want to be,” he said. “I’m coming out here to try and win every week. My mindset is: I know it’s hard, but screw it – I want the challenge. I want it to be hard. I want everyone to come after me. I want the eyeballs on you. I want the pressure. ...
“I’m putting myself in position to perform, and I know I have before in the past. It’s just small, little things that can make the difference. Everyone has ups, everyone has downs, and we’ll figure it out.”
