The Plantation Course at Kapalua may have some of the best views of any PGA Tour venue, but the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions was tough to watch.
After separating himself from the field with a newly cleaned up short game, Collin Morikawa crumbled under pressure down the stretch. The 25-year-old blew a six-shot lead—three straight bogeys in his final five holes allowed a surging Jon Rahm to emerge victorious in Maui.
Rahm started the final round seven shots back, and when he bogeyed the 1st, Morikawa birdied. After the opening hole of the final round, Rahm was a stunning nine strokes back.
No one saw the Spaniard coming, but that quickly changed: He made the turn in 4 under and then went on a rampage as Morikawa melted. Rahm played holes 12-15 in 5 under. A closing birdie on 18 sealed the deal. Standing at 27 under for the tournament, even an eagle on the 18th hole wouldn’t give Morikawa a chance to redeem himself in a playoff.
“If you told me at the beginning of the round after that bogey that I was going to do what I did, having a three-shot lead after finishing, I don’t know if I would have believed you,” Rahm said.
The momentum of the tournament changed in a matter of minutes on the back nine. Morikawa’s decline began with a skulled bunker shot on the par-4 14th, followed by a chunked chip on the 15th and another sloppy bogey on the 16th. The two-time major champion’s nerves prevailed. Up until the 67th hole of the championship, Morikawa hadn’t made a single bogey. The collapse on Sunday tied the largest 54-hole lead loss in PGA Tour history.
“It sucks,” said Morikawa. “You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities and just bad timing on bad shots kind of added up really quickly. Don’t know what I’m going to learn from this week, but it just didn’t seem like it was that far off. It really wasn’t. Yeah, it sucks.”
All the while, Rahm was taking command. He masterfully navigated the back nine as the tides were quickly changing.
“Fifteen is when it truly became a reality, when I had that putt to get within one shot,” Rahm said. “Knowing the way I was playing, 16 and 18 are good birdie options. 17, with the proper tee shot you can give yourself a chance. The putt went in and then on 17 I couldn’t believe it that I missed the green and I had a one shot lead. Everything changed.”
The former US Open champion will take home a $2.7 million check for his win at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
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