Colin Morikawa feels so comfortable with and in control of his game that he is enjoying that rare feeling that every golfer aspires to.
“It’s a sense of freedom,” he said, “when you go out and play golf and you just go play golf, try and get the ball in the hole, versus trying to think about the swing or about the stroke or whatever it may be.”
Through three rounds at Bay Hill Club, Morikawa has played golf better than anyone. A five-under-par 67 on Saturday gave him the lead through 54 holes in the $US20 million Arnold Palmer Invitational. At 10-under 206, the two-time major winner is one stroke ahead of Russell Henley and two clear of Canada’s Corey Conners. Henley matched Morikawa with a 67 and Conners bogeyed his final hole for 69 on a course whose defenses on a calm day were its thick rough and dry, slick greens.
The only other players fewer than six shots behind Morikawa were Australia’s Jason Day at 209 and Michael Kim and Tony Finau at five-under 211.
A seven-time winner as a pro, including six on the PGA Tour, Morikawa hasn’t won since late 2023 at the Zozo Championship in Japan. Though he ranks fifth in the world, he admits he never had a handle on his game last year when he twice was runner-up and posted 16 top-25 finishes. Likewise, despite another second place at The Sentry in the season opener and a couple of T-17 finishes in the first two signature events of the year, his game hasn’t felt this solid in a long time.
“It’s been awhile since I’ve hit my irons like this; it honestly has,” said the 28-year-old from Los Angeles, who leads the field in strokes gained/approach, tee to green and proximity on approach. “Just start lines, amount of cut, we’re looking all the way back to 2021, essentially.”
That was the year he won the second of his two major titles, in the British Open at Royal St George’s in England.
More than once Morikawa said it’s “little things” that are making a difference. He wouldn’t elaborate. You wouldn’t, either, if you have figured a few things out and don’t want to give the competition even the slightest bit of assistance. Suffice it to say that he is in a good place, even as he admits, “that doesn’t mean you’re going to go out and play well.”
But after a day when he converted five birdies against a lone bogey and felt like he left a few shots out on the course, he has certain expectations born of confidence.
“Honestly, I look back at last year, and it never felt like I had my game to just go out and just play golf. I felt like I was always kind of … you show up on Sunday, and not that I was guessing, but you still were fighting something and trying to just make it work,” said Morikawa, who is has won once in four tries while leading after 54 holes. “It’s hard to win like that. I would say the guys that are winning on a constant basis, they’re playing free, and that’s how I’m going to go out tomorrow.”
One day after posting his best score (64) in 41 rounds at Bay Hill, Day (4th/-7) is three back after a 69. The 2016 champion would join Ernie Els (1998, 2010) as the only international players with multiple wins at the event.
“I think it’s going to be a lot more difficult tomorrow,” said Day. “There’s going to be 10 to 20-mile-an-hour winds out there. We all know how hard the greens are and how hard the golf course is. So it’s just kind of survive, get close to it on the back side.
“If I can get close to the back side, who knows what happens. But you just got to try and cut into the lead through the first nine. If I can cut into the lead, get myself on the back side, hopefully finish the way I did today, then you never know what happens.”
