CNN
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After taking questions on a stellar second round performance that saw him surge into contention at The Players Championship on Friday, Collin Morikawa had a point to add regarding his absence from similar media duties last week.
The two-time major champion had been within touching distance of a first PGA Tour win since 2023 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, only for American compatriot Russell Henley to snatch the title by a stroke with the help of a stunning chip-in eagle at the par-five 16th hole.
Resigned to his third runner-up finish across his last six events, Morikawa left Bay Hill without speaking to the media. In a press conference ahead of The Players on Tuesday, also staged in Florida, the world No. 4 explained he had been “heated” and “pissed” in the wake of the near-miss.
“I don’t owe anyone anything,” Morikawa, 28, told reporters at TPC Sawgrass.
“No offense to you guys, 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. I didn’t need any ‘Sorry’s, I didn’t need any ‘Good playing’s. Like, you’re just pissed.”
“Honestly, if it was an hour later I would have talked to you guys, but an hour later I was on my way out to here, because I didn’t want to be in Orlando anymore … I was just drained.”
Morikawa’s comments drew the ire of six-time PGA Tour winner Rocco Mediate, who argued the late Arnold Palmer – famed during his legendary career for his media charm – would have “hunted him down.”
“Biggest bunch of horses*** you could ever say, period. I mean, that is the dumbest, most selfish garbage you could ever say,” Mediate said Tuesday on his SiriusXM show, The Rocco Hour.
“Your job is to tell people what happened,” he added. “I don’t give a s—t about your workout in the morning and all that other crap. Tell me what happened. You lost? You lost. You got beat? That’s what happens. Guess what? Golf’s hard.
“So please stop trying to tell me, ‘I didn’t feel like talking to somebody.’ I mean, if Mr. Palmer was there, he’d have grabbed, I’m telling you, it wouldn’t have been pretty, it would’ve been public, too.”
Further criticism arrived from former pro turned pundit Brandel Chamblee, who called Morikawa’s media absence “disrespectful”.
“When I found that he had refused to do the interview I was thinking about the players who had suffered far more devastating losses, far more momentous losses, who regained their equilibrium and with class gave the media – and it’s not just giving the media, it is giving the fans and the sponsors and the entire ecosystem of the golf world an explanation of the humanity of losing,” he said on Golf Channel’s “Live From The Players” broadcast.
Chamblee’s co-analyst and fellow former pro Paul McGinley added: “I don’t know if history is going to reflect back on this generation of players as being good for the game.”
‘I don’t regret anything I said’
On his return to the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse Friday afternoon, Morikawa – having carded a second round six-under 65 that moved him within two strokes of the lead – signed off his press conference with an unprompted response.
“I might bite my tongue after saying this, but to the Brandel Chamblees, to the Paul McGinleys, to the Rocco Mediates of the world, I don’t regret anything I said,” Morikawa said.
“It might have been a little bit harsh that I don’t owe anyone, but I don’t owe anyone. I respect the fans. I’m very thankful for them. I’m grateful.”
Morikawa said he spent 10 to 15 minutes signing autographs for fans after the final round at Bay Hill.
“Not a single person from the media went to go follow me because, I don’t know,” he said. “So for people to be calling me out – it’s interesting.”
Nine birdies powered Morikawa – who started from the 10th hole – to his career best round at TPC Sawgrass and within two strokes of clubhouse leaders Akshay Bhatia and Min Woo Lee.
After coming agonizingly close to acing the Stadium Course’s fabled par-three 17th hole, a feat that his caddie JJ Jakovac had achieved during the tournament’s annual caddie competition on Wednesday, the six-time PGA Tour winner served up arguably the shot of the day at the 4th.
More than 31 feet away from the cup, Morikawa turned to his 3-wood to drop in a stunning chip and a fifth birdie across seven holes.
“That’s been my play on courses like this where I’m kind of going up slopes,” he said. “I could have easily putted it, but it’s just something that I felt very comfortable with.”