Collin Morikawa's Uneven Even Par Drops Him Out of Contention at Scottish Open

After climbing to the edge of contention the day before, Collin Morikawa couldn’t keep his game on an even keel Saturday at the Scottish Open.

Morikawa sprinkled four bogeys and four birdies into his third round and dropped from a tie for 23rd place to a share of 48th heading into Sunday’s final round.

The 24-year-old Cal grad, who shot a four-under 67 on Friday to climb 40 rungs on the leaderboard, fell back to an even-par 71, which didn’t allow him to make any further progress. At five under for the tournament, Morikawa trails co-leaders Matt Fitzpatrick of England and Thomas Detry of Belgium by nine strokes.

This is Morikawa’s first venture onto the European tour, a tuneup event for The Open next week at Royal St. George's in Sandwich, UK.

The world’s No. 4-ranked player, Morikawa could not build on Friday, when he closed with a spectacular 30 on the back nine.

He shot a 37 on the front nine Saturday, including back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 8 and 9. During his first two rounds, Morikawa bogeyed just three of 36 holes.

Detry, who shared the second-round lead with Jon Rahm and underdog Jack Senior, held onto a piece of the top spot after shooting a 68. Fitzpatrick carded a 67 to move into a tie for the lead.

Rahm, the recent U.S. Open winner and world’s top-ranked player, now resides in third place, one stroke back after a 69 on Saturday.

Senior, the 35-year-old British player who is not ranked among the world’s top 300, shot a two-over 73 and fell into an 11-way tie for 17th place.

Australian Lucas Herbert had the day’s best round, a seven-under 64 that included six birdies and an eagle, and climbed to fourth place at minus-12. Three players, including Scottie Scheffler, are tied for fifth at 11 under.

Fifth-ranked Xander Schauffele shot a 66 and moved up 15 spots to a tie for eighth at 10 under. Third-ranked Justin Thomas is tied for 17th at nine under after a 70 on Saturday.

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Aaron Doster, USA Today

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