Good for Collin Morikawa for saying what he was thinking.
Morikawa, who finished three strokes behind Hideki Matsuyama at 32-under par, had a rather blunt response when asked about his playing partner’s performance.
“Excuse my language, but f**k, 35-under par, that’s low,” Morikawa said during his post-round interview, which aired on the Golf Channel after the tournament concluded.
“[Matsuyama] just never let up. Then you get to the third hole, and the guy holes it. I just knew I had to be on top of everything, and I just kind of let a few slip on that front nine. I played a good back nine, but to win on a course like this, conditions like this, you got to have it for 72, and I had it for 65.”
Matsuyama set the PGA Tour scoring record, posting a 35-under score to win The Sentry at Kapalua. He faced an 8-footer for birdie on the 18th green to make history, and the 2021 Masters Champion drained it to etch his name into the record books.
“That last putt, it felt like if I make it, then it’s going to be the record,” Matsuyama said.
“I’m so happy that it went in.”
Morikawa had a feeling Matsuyama was on the cusp of something special a few holes before.
While standing on the tee at the par-4 16th, Matsuyama held a two-shot lead over Morikawa with three holes to play. But Morikawa pulled his tee shot into the bunker while Matsuyama found the fairway.
Matsuyama then put the nail in the coffin, stuffing a wedge to within tap-in range while Morikawa could only muster his approach from the sand to 23 feet.
“After he hit the wedge shot on 16. I mean, I was two down with three to go,” Morikawa added.
“If he pars that, you know, two-down, two to go, it’s very, very possible. Then it was three down and that kind of hurt.”
To add salt to the wounds, Morikawa’s 32-under score ranks among the top-5 lowest 72-hole scores in PGA Tour history. Yet, he did not win.
“I came into this tournament ready to play golf,” Morikawa said.
“Not ready to play into all the way to Augusta and get ready for the Masters, but I’m prepared to play. So, come two weeks from now, I’m going to be prepared to play. It was nice to see the result, but I still would like to finish out on top.”
If Morikawa keeps playing like this, the wins will come. But sometimes, the better man wins; in this case, it took a record-setting performance to beat him.
No wonder why he dropped an F-bomb in defeat. He was in disbelief.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
