Cal's Collin Morikawa Slips From 3rd Place to 14th at Tour Championship

UPDATED

Starting the Tour Championship without a bogey through his first 29 holes wasn’t good enough for Collin Morikawa.

After shooting a 6-under 64 on Thursday, the 28-year-old Cal grad settled for an even-par 70 on Friday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and dropped from a tie for third to a share of 14th place at minus-6.

Morikawa’s bogey-free run ended on the 12th and 14th holes and by making pars on his final four holes he merely held his spot at 14th place.

He enters the weekend seven strokes back of co-leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Russell Henley, both at minus-13 through 36 holes.

The Tour Championship is the final leg of the season-ending, three-week FedEx Cup playoffs. Golfers are competing for a piece of the $40 million total purse, with $10 million going to the winner. The top 30 golfers in the season-long FedEx Cup standings qualified for this weekend's event.

Morikawa, runner-up at this event last year, had birdies on Nos. 2 and 8 before carding two bogeys in a span of three holes to fall back of the leaders.

Also part of the six-way tie for 14th are Ludvig Aberg and Keegan Bradley, the U.S. Ryder Cup team captain who next week will announce the final six roster spots on the 12-man squad that will duel Europe from September 26-28 at Bethpage Black in New York.

Morikawa is among the frontrunners to get one of those half-dozen spots, and his place seems more likely given that Bradley included him in a dinner where he invited the six automatic qualifiers along with Justin Thomas and Morikawa -- Nos. 7 and 8 in the Ryder Cup standings.

Fleetwood, the Englishman who is still seeking his first PGA Tour title, had eight birdies against a single bogey on Friday to fire a 63. Henley, the first-round leader after a 9-under 61, birdied his final two holes Friday to get to 66 and a share of the top spot.

Cameron Young shot an 8-under 62 that included nine birdies and one bogey and sits in third place at minus-11. Robert MacIntyre and Patrick Cantlay share fourth place at 10 under.

Defending champion and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is hanging around, as usual. He is alone in sixth place at minus-8 after a 1-under round of 69 made possible by a birdie on the 18th.

Among seven players tied for seventh at 7 under is world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, who shot 3-under 67.

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