Morikawa denies Thomas in sudden-death thriller
Collin Morikawa celebrates with the winner's trophy after the final round of the Workday Charity Open on July 12, 2020 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Collin Morikawa came from three shots behind Justin Thomas with three holes to play to beat the world No 5 with a par at the third extra hole of a thrilling playoff for the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village.
The 23-year old Los Angeles native was beaten in a playoff on the PGA Tour’s return a month to go when he missed a short putt in sudden-death to lose to Daniel Berger for the Charles Schwab Championship.
This time it was the turn of major winner and Ryder Cup star Thomas to proved he was human after a pulsating final-round duel with Morikawa and the 22-year old Norwegian talent Viktor Hovland.
Leading Hovland was two strokes and Morikawa by three with a round to go, the Kentucky star was seeking his 13th PGA Tour win by the age of 27, which is a feat only achieved by Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
But he was denied by an up and coming star in Morikawa, who has now more tournaments (two) than he has missed cuts (one) in his 26-event PGA Tour career.
Having played three rounds without recording a bogey, Thomas made two in a row at the second and third to find himself trailing Hovland, who birdied the third and then birdied the fourth and fifth to keep pace with Morikawa, who birdied the fourth and eagled the fifth.
Hovland would fall back with bogeys at the sixth and 10th, eventually carding a 71 to finish third, four strokes outside the playoff on 15-under.
Thomas was three shots behind Morikawa with 11 holes to go but birdied the eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th to edge in front.
Morikawa birdied the 12th to draw level, almost holing his tee shot. But while he bogeyed the 13th and birdied the 14th, Thomas went birdie-eagle at the 14th and 15th to lead by three shots but played the last three shot in two-over, finishing bogey, par, bogey for a 69 that left him on 19-under.
Morikawa’s birdie at the 17th, where he hit a 186-yard approach to nine feet, exerted huge pressure on Thomas, who drove into sand at the 18th and couldn’t get up and down from short of the green.
In sudden-death, Thomas appeared to steal the tournament when he rolled in a 50 footer for an unlikely birdie on their return to the 18th. But Morikawa matched him from 24 feet.
“We agreed on a line, hit it perfect exactly how we wanted, and really helped that J.T. had that putt about halfway in between during regulation,” Morikawa said. “So, I kind of knew what it did at the end. So as long as I got my line started on there, we had a good shot at making it.”
Both players parred the hole the second time around, Morikawa two-putting from 21 feet before Thomas missed from nine feet for the win.
The third extra hole was the 462-yard 18th and after watching Thomas drive behind a tree in the right rough, Morikawa found the fairway with a fairway metal, drilled his 170-yard approach to nine feet and watched as Thomas chipped out and eventually missed from 14 feet for par.
Morikawa could afford to two-putt for his second win having claimed his maiden win in the Barracuda Championship in just his sixth PGA Tour start just under 12 months ago.
“This is a huge kind of stepping-stone,” Morikawa said. “We got No. 1 out of the way, we got No. 2, let the gates just open and let's just keep going because obviously it was a tough loss at Colonial a month ago, but I learned a lot. I learned a lot from last week or a week and a half ago at Travelers after my missed cut.
“This is just more positives, more learning for me, and I've got to go back to, okay, what did I do great, what did I do wrong this week, how can I get better, move on to next week and make a lot of birdies.”
Thomas was bitterly disappointed but also happy for Morikawa having acted as a mentor to the winner during his first year on tour.
“Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty pissed off,” Thomas said. ”That's about the only way to explain it. I had a three-shot lead with three to go and just completely handed it over. Collin played great. He birdied a very tough hole on 17. Both made great birdies on the first playoff hole. But I had two chances, many chances to win this thing, but two chances in regulation and the second playoff hole and didn't get it done.”
Asked if he could draw positives, he said: “Yeah, I mean, everything was a positive. I shot 19-under par on a pretty tough golf course. But the fact of the matter is I just completely gave it up, so that's just going to hurt for a while.”
As for the Irish, Graeme McDowell tied for 35th ($31,543) on five-under after a 72 with Shane Lowry a shot further back, tied for 39th ($23,250 on four-under thanks to a closing 69 featuring three bogeys and six birdies.
The Open champion had a much better day with the putter, making four putts between 12 and 20 feet and missing just one four-footer.
McDowell and Lowry return to Muirfield Village for The Memorial this week, where they will be joined by world No 1 Rory McIlroy.
2020 Workday Charity Open, Muirfield Village Golf Club Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,456
Weather: Cloudy, with a high of 81. Wind SW 6-12 mph.
FedExCup Points: 500
Purse: $6,200,000/$1,116,000
Collin Morikawa (1st/-19)
Age: 23 (2/6/1997)
FedExCup: 6
OWGR Top 20 (projected)
PGA TOUR starts 26
PGA TOUR wins 2
Starts in 2019-20 15
Top-10s in 2019-20 5
Final Leaderboard
Collin Morikawa 65-66-72-66—269 (-19)*
Justin Thomas 68-66-66-69—269 (-19)
Viktor Hovland 69-67-66-71—273 (-15)
Chase Seiffert 68-69-70-67—274 (-14)
*won with a par-4 on the third hole of a playoff (No. 10)
Things to Know
In his second playoff since the PGA TOUR’s Return to Golf, Collin Morikawa outlasts Justin Thomas on third extra hole; projected to move inside the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking
Becomes the second player (Tiger Woods) in the last 30 years to claim his second PGA TOUR victory before missing his second cut
Justin Thomas sinks 50’6” birdie putt on the first hole of sudden death, fails to save par on third extra hole
With the runner-up finish, Thomas overtakes the No. 1 spot in the FedExCup
Workday Charity Open marks the season’s ninth playoff and first since Morikawa lost to Daniel Berger at the Charles Schwab Challenge; ties Sentry Tournament of Champions for most extra holes (3)
Viktor Hovland finishes third in his bid to become the youngest player to win twice in a season since Jordan Spieth in 2015
Defending champion of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, Patrick Cantlay, opens in 5-under through five holes en route to final-round 7-under 65; finishes T7
Following Workday Charity Open
Collin Morikawa
18- and 36-hole leader followed a 6-under 66 in the final round to force sudden death with 54-hole leader Justin Thomas. On the first extra hole, sank a 24’3” putt for birdie to keep the playoff alive after Thomas sank a birdie putt from 50’6”.
With a par on the third extra hole, the par-4 10th, claimed his second career PGA TOUR title in his 26th start (24th as a professional) at the age of 23 years, 5 months and 6 days
With the win, moves to No. 6 (from 21st) in the FedExCup
Victory comes in the ninth playoff of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR Season and marks the first playoff since Morikawa lost to Daniel Berger of the first extra hole at the Charles Schwab Challenge
Victory comes in his first start since a missed cut at the Travelers Championship, his first missed cut in 23 professional starts. Now owns more TOUR victories than missed cuts
Becomes the second player (Tiger Woods) in the last 30 years to claim his second PGA TOUR victory before missing his second cut
Becomes the fourth player to win on the PGA TOUR under the age of 24 this season, joining Joaquin Niemann (21, A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier), Viktor Hovland (22, Puerto Rico Open) and Sungjae Im (21, The Honda Classic)
Played his first five holes in 4-under, highlighted by his second eagle of the week at the par-5 fifth; played the hole in 6-under for the week (two birdies, two eagles)
Played the par-5 holes (Nos. 5, 7, 11 and 15) in 10-under this week
Becomes the 11th second-round leader/co-leader to convert for the win on the PGA TOUR in 2019-20 and first since Webb Simpson (RBC Heritage)
Victory marks his fifth top-10 finish of the season and his best showing since a playoff loss at the Charles Schwab Challenge in June
Justin Thomas (2nd/-19)
Despite bogeys on two of his first three holes – his first bogeys of the week – closed with a 3-under 69 to finish at 19-under 269 with Collin Morikawa
Sank a 50’6” putt on the first extra hole, No. 18
With the runner-up finish, overtakes the No. 1 spot in the FedExCup by 183 points over Webb Simpson
Played 11 holes in the final round (regulation) needing just one putt, including the stretch of Nos. 6-15
Additional Notes
Viktor Hovland (3rd/-15) closed with a 1-under 71; with a win, would have become the youngest player to win multiple TOUR titles in a season since Jordan Spieth won the 2015 Valspar Championship and Masters Tournament at the age of 21
PGA TOUR rookie Chase Seiffert (4th/-14) gained entry into the field on Monday when K.J. Choi withdrew. The last player to win a tournament after gaining a spot in the field via the alternate list was Nate Lashley at the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic
Defending champion of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, Patrick Cantlay (T7/-11), closed with a 7-under 65 to become the fourth player to post multiple final rounds of 65 of better at Muirfield Village, joining Fred Couples, Greg Norman and Tiger Woods
Coming off missed cuts in three of his last four starts in the TOUR’s Return to Golf, Columbus resident Jason Day (T7/-11) closed with a 5-under 67. In 11 starts at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, has never finished better than T15 (2017)
Following three rounds in the 70s, World No. 2 Jon Rahm closed with an 8-under 64, tying Kevin Streelman (round two) for the low round of the week to jump from T62 to T27 (7-under 281)
Following a third-round 7-under 65, Monday qualifier MJ Daffue closed with a 1-over 73 to finish T22 at 8-under 280; made birdie at the final hole in round two to make the cut on the number, then followed with the low round of the day in round three (65)
With his final-round 1-over 73, Rickie Fowler’s (T22/-8) streak of par-or-better scores at Muirfield Village Golf Club ends at 16
Hole statistics
Toughest hole/Easiest hole
R1 Par-3 16th (3.318)/Par-5 5th (4.611)
R2 Par-5 5th (4.536)/Par-5 7th (4.478)
R3 Par-3 16th (3.265)/Par-3 4th (3.343)
R4 Par-4 6th (4.269/Par-3 16th (3.233)
Cumulative Par-5 5th (4.507)/Par-5 5th (4.566)
Scoring Averages
R1 35.465 36.656 72.121 —
R2 36.053 36.212 72.265 72.193
R3 35.119 36.194 71.313 72.035
R4 35.433 35.403 70.836 71.853
Bogey-free rounds
R1 (2): Nick Taylor (67), Justin Thomas (68)R2 (4): Sam Burns (66), Justin Thomas (66), Hideki Matsuyama (68), Russell Henley (70) R3 (2): MJ Daffue (65), Justin Thomas (66)R4 (0): None
