“It was just an inability to hit fairways”: Collin Morikawa within touching distance of first PGA title despite a poor outing at the Zozo Championship

Collin Morikawa is competing at this week's Zozo Championship in Japan. After three rounds of the tournament, the American golfer battled to play against the wind. He finds himself within striking distance of his first PGA Tour victory.

Collin Morikawa could only manage to locate three fairways on Friday and admitted in his interview with the media that the bad shots were not the result of the inability to handle wind but it was because of the inability to hit fairways.

Speaking about the weather conditions at the Zozo Championship, Morikawa said (via Golf Monthly):

“It wasn’t an inability to handle the wind, it was just an inability to hit fairways. And that continued today, so it wasn’t just the wind."

“I want to figure it out because playing out of these fairways, you can hit some long drives with how firm the fairways are getting. Greens are getting a lot firmer, so it’s going to be even more apparent to want to be in the fairway and on those greens (on Sunday)," he added.

Having turned professional in 2019, Collin Morikawa has won six professional tournaments in his career. He has won five on the PGA Tour and four on the European Tour.

His first PGA Tour victory came in 2019 at the Barracuda Championship when he had a three-point victory over Troy Merrit. The following year he won the Workday Charity Open and then the 2020 PGA Championship, the first major of his career.

He has won the WGC-Workday Championship and The Open Championship in 2021.

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Collin Morikawa's performance at the 2023 Zozo Championship

Morikawa started his game at the 2023 Zozo Championship on Thursday, October 19. He played the open round of 64.

Morikawa made five birdies on the front nine and one birdie on the back nine to finish with a score of six-under par 64. In the second round, the American golfer made two bogeys on the first and fourth holes but quickly bounced back in the game and made two back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh holes.

He added two more bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes and made a double bogey on the 14th before making a birdie on the 15th hole to settle for a score of 73.

He struggled with his game on Friday but made a few good shots in the third round on Saturday. He carded eight birdies in the third round but also made one double bogey and two bogeys to score 66. Following the third round of the tournament, Morikawa ended with a score of under seven. He will start the final round of the tournament two strokes behind the leader Justin Suh.

The final round of the 2023 Zozo Championship will take place on Sunday, October 22.