Collin Morikawa Responds to Heartbreaking Defeat at Arnold Palmer Invitational

Collin Morikawa has responded to his heartbreaking defeat at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he held the lead going into Sunday and had a multiple-shot advantage at one point during the final round.

Morikawa fended off a field of players like Shane Lowry, Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley, and others during the third round to put himself in prime position for a win on Sunday, which would have been his first since October 2023 when he won the Zozo Championship by six strokes. 

Eventually, Morikawa’s lack of ability to find birdies on Sunday caught up to him, as he fired an even par round on Sunday. 

It was not enough to hold off a charging field that included Russell Henley, who found a few shots late in the round to get under par and take the lead from Morikawa at -11. He would go on to win the API.

Morikawa responded on Monday after the loss:

“No excuses. Never had any, but always a nice reminder. Honestly though, this one stings.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Morikawa has high expectations because of his big performances in Majors earlier in his career. He won the PGA Championship in 2020 and followed it up with a win at The Open Championship in 2021. He has finished T3 at the Masters and T4 at the U.S. Open.

However, his consistency at the top of the leaderboard has not translated to frequent victories. Morikawa is one of the best iron players on TOUR. On Sunday, he was unable to take advantage of that to outlast Henley.

Cover Image via Golf