PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Collin Morikawa is one of the most engaging and thoughtful players in golf.
That’s what made his hasty exit from the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday at Bay Hill after a crushing loss to winner Russell Henley somewhat stunning.
On Tuesday, in advance of this week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, Morikawa spoke publicly for the first time since he lost a three-shot lead with five holes to play and explained his salty exit.
“Just heated, just pissed,’’ he said. “No offense to you guys (reporters), but for me in the moment of that time, I didn’t want to be around anyone. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. You’re just pissed. I was just drained. I just didn’t want to talk to anyone, and I think that’s fair to myself. I don’t owe anyone anything.’’
That last statement is debatable, since players do have an unwritten responsibility to make themselves available to the media, but based on the way Morikawa usually operates, he surely deserves a pass for Sunday.
In reality, he didn’t blow the tournament as much as Henley won it. Morikawa, who shot even par in the final round, simply didn’t seize the moment when the moment was there to be seized. And that hurt a little more because he hasn’t won a tournament since 2023 and that’s gnawing at him.
“Sunday night was a lot of frustration,’’ Morikawa said. “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?’
“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 obviously played some great golf.’’
Morikawa hasn’t made a career of failing to finish in final rounds. He’s won two major championships — a PGA and a British Open.
“I love being in that position,’’ he said. “But it was frustrating Sunday night. I know my last few finishes haven’t been as good [but] you just move on. I’m going to think about it. I know what happened. I fully am aware of how it played out. But I just have to move on and I have to learn from it. I have to keep getting better. Like I always say, ‘Why not win this week?’ ’’
Morikawa said, after the final round was over on Sunday, he “hugged it’’ out with his caddie, Jonathan Jakovac, and his wife, went back to their rental condo and got out of Orlando.
“I’m a pretty independent guy; I don’t need someone to pep me up and say, ‘Good job,’ ’’ he said. “I know where I’m at and I know where I’m at with my golf. I just have to win. I have to be able to close it out. That’s going to come down to me. I’m the one hitting the shot.
“We all know what happened. I have to get over it. I’m back on my two feet, I’m trying to figure out how to play my best golf here for this week.’’
