Jon Rahm emerged the winner due to a glowing 63 — and a few assist from Collin Morikawa.
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KAPALUA, Hawaii — The last query posed to Collin Morikawa at his post-round Saturday press convention turned out to be foreshadowing of probably the most painful type.
Had he ever held a big-time 54-hole lead like this earlier than?
Morikawa, whose lead was six, paused.
“Well, Hero,” he stated with a smile. “It’s okay, I’m over it.”
“Hero” referred to the 2021 Hero World Challenge, the place he’d wanted a win to get to World No. 1. He put himself in place, constructing a five-shot lead via three rounds, solely to shoot 41 on the entrance 9 Sunday and evaporate from rivalry. He wound up a heartbroken T5.
But Morikawa appeared to brush apart the reminiscence. The assembled reporters did, too. This wouldn’t be like that. Top-tier golfers convert massive 54-hole leads at exceptional charges, in spite of everything. Per Justin Ray, there had been 25 Tour professionals within the final 15 years to enter the ultimate spherical with a lead of six or extra photographs. Twenty-three of them had gone on to win. This was the largest third-round lead anyone had ever held at Kapalua. And Morikawa was in such cruise management he hadn’t but made a bogey.
Still, the skeptics amongst you’ll counsel all the factor had been too simple. The narrative too neat. Golf is meant to be messy, not a recreation of excellent. It can’t be solved. Collin Morikawa had touched down in Hawaii with a reformed placing stroke and a revamped chipping technique and, for 3 and a half rounds, had turned his solely weaknesses right into a superpower? No manner.
Early within the week, Jon Rahm was requested if the Sentry Tournament of Champions owed him one. Last yr, in spite of everything, he shot 33 below par and misplaced to Cameron Smith’s PGA Tour-record 34 below. He’d completed runner-up in 2018, too. But Rahm solely shrugged.
“I can make a case for that on a lot of golf courses,” he stated.
His assertion wasn’t meant to be cocky, solely matter-of-fact. But it was a reminder of Rahm’s relentlessness. When he’s within the area, he usually contends. That has been notably true of late — he entered the week with two wins and two extra top-fives in his final 5 begins — and it was lower than a yr in the past that Rahm was the unquestioned World No. 1.
Still, he was thus far again coming into the Sunday’s spherical that he didn’t suppose twice about what he usually considers an off-limits final-round outfit. He likes to put on a pinkish-red shirt on Sundays however sometimes avoids pairing it with black pants out of respect for golf’s most iconic uniform.
“I usually don’t want to wear anything that’s close to red and black on Sundays because of Tiger. That’s his outfit,” he stated.
Winner’s bag: Jon Rahm’s Callaway gear on the 2023 Tournament of Champions
Ryan Barath
Instead, he’ll pair the shirt with grey or navy pants. But in his preparations for Maui Rahm uncared for to pack his common provide of belts. (“I also forgot socks,” he stated. “Yeah, I forgot a few things.”) By the time he bought to Sunday, he’d run via his provide of navy pants, too. Red and black it was.
“We’re so far away [from the lead], whatever,” Rahm informed himself. “I’m like, we’re going to need a small miracle.”
After he bogeyed the primary gap and Morikawa made birdie, Rahm was 9 photographs again.
“I was going to need somewhat of a larger miracle,” he stated.
At Kapalua, the surroundings obscures the strain. On tv, hovering drone photographs seize kayakers, surfers, whales breaching. On the bottom, vacationers absorb dramatic views of Molokai, the neighboring island, rising sharply out of the cobalt-blue Pacific.
In the lead-up to the event, the golfers take full benefit of the environment, too. Rahm was amongst a slate of professionals who’d arrived every week early to trip. He and his spouse Kelley have determined it’s their week to spend along with their two younger youngsters.
“The week before the tournament we come early, around the 27th usually,” Rahm stated. “We always tell our families, I’m going to put my phone in the drawer, see ya.” It’s a protracted season, he added, and it’s good to totally recharge earlier than the calendar yr begins.
“I still practice and play a lot of golf, but I’m still going to the pool afterward and enjoying it,” he stated. “So I think when you’re ready to come and lay down and have Mai Tais and Pina Coladas I think the island is like, bring it on, embrace it.”
You may very well be confused into considering that all the event has, as Rahm talked about, a “chill atmosphere.” There was Sam Burns on Friday, making bogey at No. 11 and punting his ball (efficiently, I ought to add) into the bushes behind the inexperienced. There was Scottie Scheffler, who missed a four-footer on 18 on Saturday and stormed (politely, however instantly) from scoring to the placing inexperienced to work it out. There was Rahm himself, lacking a putt on the 18th inexperienced and turning away from the grandstands to roar an expletive into the neighboring ravine. It’s chill proper as much as the purpose that it isn’t.
“He’s definitely passionate,” stated Tom Kim, who performed alongside Rahm on Sunday. “There’s a lot of fire — a lot of fire — and there’s no give-up at all.” Not this week or another.
This week’s stakes have been excessive, too. Because it’s a PGA Tour occasion, for one. Because it’s a top-tier area, for 2. And additionally as a result of it was billed as the primary “designated event,” the place the Tour’s high stars are all (just about) required to indicate up and compete. This week’s winner would personal a slice of Tour historical past. Plus $2.7 million.
“I know it’s going to take a lot,” Morikawa stated on Saturday evening, regardless of his six-shot lead. “I don’t care about anything else. I want to win.”
Morikawa regarded like a winner as he stood on the 14th tee, ready for the inexperienced to clear. Black shirt. Black pants. White sneakers. Sharp. Poised. Focused. A number of of his putts had slid previous in current holes, however this was his event to win; Rahm had simply made birdie at 14 however Morikawa nonetheless led by 3. And he nonetheless hadn’t made a bogey.
His tee shot hung excellent of the inexperienced and located the bunker some 25 yards in need of the entrance pin. It was the form of shot that might make an beginner golfer shake like a leaf — a prolonged carry to a short-sided flag — however Morikawa’s quick recreation had regarded higher than ever.
“I’ve been in that bunker, it’s not like it’s an impossible bunker shot,” he stated post-round. “Normally 10 out of 10 times you’re putting that to within 15 feet, at worst.”
This was that eleventh time. Morikawa caught extra ball than sand and despatched it hurtling over the again of the inexperienced, now 25 yards lengthy of the outlet, the place it settled into some thick tough. He performed a nifty shot to 10 ft however regarded tentative on his sliding par putt, leaving it quick and low of the outlet. His first bogey paired with an keen announcement from a phone-wielding fan behind the inexperienced.
“Oh my god,” he stated. “Rahm just eagled 15.” His 12-foot eagle putt had capped off a stretch of 4 holes he performed in 5 below par. Suddenly they have been tied.
Now it was Morikawa’s flip to play the outlet. But the place Rahm had discovered the placing floor, Morikawa’s method trickled off the proper aspect and down the steep greenside slope.
“I pushed that 5-wood just enough and knew it was going to roll down,” he stated.
Chris, the ultimate group’s standard-bearer, is an worker on the membership. He’s hit that chip earlier than and didn’t envy Morikawa’s state of affairs.
“That chip is so grainy, dude,” he stated. “I mean, so, so grainy. If you catch it even a little bit heavy, you’re dead.”
He proved a prophet. Morikawa’s wedge caught turf earlier than ball and his TaylorMade superior simply 20 ft. He overcompensated by hitting his subsequent pitch some 10 ft previous the outlet. When his putt stayed simply out, he was out of the blue one shot again.
It was surreal to see Morikawa repeat the identical painful sequence at No. 16; his method missed within the improper spot, he chipped to seven ft and missed the putt. After an hermetic quick recreation propelled him to 67 bogey-free holes, he’d now made three in a row.
Up forward, Rahm noticed a scoreboard to the proper of the seventeenth inexperienced. He couldn’t consider his eyes.
“It said I was in first place, and it didn’t say T1,” he stated. “I kind of looked at [his caddie] Adam, like, ‘what’s going on?’”
Rahm had reached 26 below par, however he’d assumed he’d want one thing nearer to 30 below to remain forward of Morikawa, who had reached 27 below earlier than even making the flip. By the time Rahm’s tee shot landed on the ultimate fairway he held a two-shot lead. He’d simply discovered he was in rivalry — now he was about to win.
The 18th on the Plantation Course is without doubt one of the most scenic holes on any course anyplace, 670 yards of ski-slope downhill, Hawaiian perfection within the distance. Rahm loved the stroll. He stayed aggressive along with his method shot, taking lifeless purpose at a left pin and trickling simply off the again left fringe of the inexperienced. From there he navigated a tough chip and left himself with simply inside 5 ft for a tournament-clinching birdie. He buried it, cementing his eighth PGA Tour win with a protracted fist pump.
When Morikawa emerged from the scoring space some 20 minutes later, he jogged forward to catch Rahm’s consideration. He gave him a congratulatory hug, then one other to Rahm’s caddie Adam Hayes. And then he proceeded, nonetheless shell-shocked, to reply questions.
What was he feeling?
“Sadness,” Morikawa stated, taking a breath. “I don’t know. It sucks. You work so hard to give yourself these opportunities and just bad timing on bad shots and kind of added up really quickly.”
You may see the wheels turning, the well-trained athlete’s intuition to see the brilliant aspect, however nothing got here up however the sting of defeat.
“I don’t know what I’m going to learn from this week,” he stated. “But it just didn’t seem like it was that far off. It really wasn’t. Yeah, it sucks.”
He mirrored on the inflection level, citing the fifteenth inexperienced.
“I didn’t see the leaderboard until I got on the green and you realize I’m putting for par to stay tied for the lead,” he stated. “At that point, it’s a little different feeling than what you had early on.”
Someone posed the sports activities pundit query: Had Rahm received it or had he misplaced it?
“A little bit of both,” Morikawa admitted. “I mean, one under on this course is not a good score. It really isn’t. I was three under through six holes and three-putted 5 as well. He still also shot 63. But I still, ya’know, I still had it within reach.”
He stored digging the ditch of self-disappointment, citing this as doubtless the low level in his professional profession.
“It’s hard to look at the positives, it really is,” he concluded.
There’s cause for encouragement, in fact. The first three-and-a-half rounds have been nonetheless very actual. He nonetheless completed in solo second place at 25 below par and nonetheless seems to have made main progress on his quick recreation and nonetheless pulled in $1.5 million. That can purchase a few Mai Tais as he sticks round Hawaii within the coming days.
Rahm appreciated Morikawa’s place. “It’s not easy,” he stated of defending a six-shot lead. “At one point he was leading by eight or nine, so I don’t blame him for being conservative.”
But when requested if he felt dangerous for his vanquished opponent, Rahm couldn’t assist however reply truthfully.
“I don’t know how to answer that without sounding very rude,” he stated. “As a competitor, no, I want to win. That’s all I can tell you. I’ve been where he is before. I’ve made a mess of a round before. Especially in amateur golf, I’ve done it before. I think we’ve all been there. You don’t want to see that happen, really, ever. You want to beat everybody at their best. But if the best Collin had shown up today I wouldn’t have won.”
One event into 2023, the remainder of the golf world is on discover. While Rahm solely rose from No. 5 to No. 4 on the planet (he tossed one other not-so-veiled shot on the World Ranking system post-round) there’s no query that he’s enjoying in addition to anyone. Just ask him.
“In my mind, I feel like since August I’ve been the best player in the world,” he stated.
The concept of the PGA Tour’s new-look, new-feel “designated events” is that they’ll pit the perfect on the planet in opposition to one another extra usually. The concept is that rivalries will kind. Drama will unfold. Golf will remind folks that for all its tediousness, issues can change immediately. We’ve been reminded increasingly over the previous yr that skilled golf is an leisure product. The pleasure of successful, the agony of defeat and the truth that the 2 reside in such shut quarters? That’s the product.
They’re off to a superb begin.
