We Haven't Seen This Before - Collin Morikawa Slides to 71st Place at the Scottish Open
The Scottish Open didn’t exactly provide Collin Morikawa with momentum heading into The Open next week at Royal St. George’s.
Morikawa suffered through a nightmarish stretch of four straight bogeys — including a double — on Sunday on his way to finishing in a tie for 71st place at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.
It was Morikawa’s worst career finish in an event where he played all four rounds.
With a two-over 73 on Sunday, he wound up at minus-3 for the tournament where the scores were low, 15 strokes behind winner Min Woo Lee of Australia, who won a three-way playoff on the first hole against Belgium’s Thomas Detry and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick.
The 24-year-old Cal grad arrived in Scotland ranked No. 4 in the world and riding a hot streak. He has seven top-10 finishes this year and finished among the top-20 in six of his past seven tournaments, including a tie for fourth at the U.S. Open and second place at the Memorial in his past two outings.
But Morikawa’s first venture to Europe as a pro has not gone well so far. He will try to rescue the fortnight beginning Thursday at Britain’s contribution to golf’s four majors. The Open — often referred to as the British Open — was first played in 1860.
Morikawa shot a two-over 73 on Sunday and it was only that good because he had birdies on Nos. 16, 17 and 18.
The front nine was a disaster for Morikawa. He carded bogeys on Nos. 3, 4 and 5 then a double-bogey five on the par-3 sixth hole. He wound up with a birdie-free 41 on the front nine.
Morikawa had birdies on four of the final five holes on the back nine — wedged around a bogey on No. 15.
It was a topsy-turvy week for Morikawa, who rallied from 99th at one early on Friday to a tie for 23rd place at the halfway point after a second-round 67. But he had four bogeys and Saturday and five more in the final round to fall out of contention.
Only four of 77 golfers on the course Sunday had scores higher than his 73, while 34 players shot three-under or better. Ian Poulter posted an eight-under 63 and still finished in a tie for fourth.
Lee strung together six straight birdies on the front nine Sunday to pull into position to force the playoff. He shot a 64, then birdied the 18th on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff.
Detry and Fitzpatrick, who each shot 67s on Sunday, had pars on the playoff hole.
While Pouler, Ryan Palmer and Lucas Herbert shared fourth place at 17 under, world No. 1 Jon Rahm wound up alone in seventh at minus-16. Justin Thomas climbed to a tie for eighth at minus-15 after a final-round 65.
England’s Jack Senior, the 35-year-old who is nowhere in the rankings of the world’s top 300 players, finished in a tie for 10th place after a staying with the leaders through three rounds.
Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Michael Madrid, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo