Kisner sets a daunting target at PGA Championship

DUBLIN, Ohio – Collin Morikawa knew what he had to do. He had just seen a prayer of a 50-foot birdie putt drop into the cup. And like those two dozen people standing by the 18th green at Muirfield Village, including Rickie Fowler, who was filming the playoff on his smart phone, he had heard Justin Thomas’ guttural yell in celebration. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Morikawa’s bag? If Morikawa was going to have any chance of winning the inaugural Workday Charity Open, he had to convert his own birdie putt from 24 feet on that first playoff hole. There was no other option. So, he gathered himself and huddled with his caddie, J.J. Jakovac. “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 recalled. “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.” And he did. That clutch putt didn’t seal Morikawa’s victory – he would two-putt from 10 feet on the third extra hole to make that happen – but it was the signature moment in a roller-coaster afternoon of lead changes and emotion that Thomas would later call simply a “bizarre” day. “It would have been a fun day to have some fans just in terms of the ups and downs and the shot making,” acknowledged the disappointed runner-up, who lost a two-shot lead on the front nine, then built it back to three on the back with five birdies and an eagle in an eight-hole stretch. Thomas unraveled with bogeys on the 16th and 18th holes, though, and coupled with Morikawa’s 8-foot birdie putt on No. 17, the stage was set for the frantic and frenetic playoff. As Morikawa later said, it was a “long, long 21 holes.” Later, though, after fulfilling all his media obligations, the winner could relax. He posted a photo of himself holding the crystal trophy on Twitter. Morikawa was sipping one of Muirfield Village’s signature chocolate milkshakes, too. “Well done, it’s not our last battle,” responded a respectful Thomas, who had spoken Saturday about how he expected to have Morikawa as a teammate on Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams in the not-too-distant future. The win was the second of Morikawa’s career, which not coincidentally gives him more victories than he has missed cuts and lifted him to sixth in the FedExCup. The steady 23-year-old, who closed with a 66, had a streak of 22 straight weekends played, second only to the great Tiger Woods, that ended at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago. Not to mention, Morikawa nearly won the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first PGA TOUR event played after the COVID-19 hiatus, five weeks ago. He was involved in a playoff there, too, but missed a 4-footer on the first extra hole to lose to Daniel Berger. Morikawa called Sunday’s win, which came on one of the TOUR’s most respected courses in Muirfield Village, “amazing.” And he’ll get a chance to make it an unusual two-in-a-row at Jack Nicklaus’ place this week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Morikawa made it clear on Sunday he wants to be known for more than consistency – not only by his words but by his actions. “This is a huge kind of stepping-stone,” he 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.” This time last year, Morikawa had his degree in business administration from the University of California-Berkeley in hand, but his post-graduate work was just beginning on the PGA TOUR. He earned his PGA TOUR card the hard way, gaining status as a special temporary member before winning his sixth start the Barracuda Championship, played opposite the World Golf Championships-FedEx Championship, to lock up job security for the next two years. Ironically, one of those helping him along the way was Thomas, who invited Morikawa to dinner the week he made his pro debut at the RBC Canadian Open. “He’s someone that has kind of helped me just get comfortable,” Morikawa said. “Props to him. He’s an awesome player, awesome dude, as well. “I wouldn’t say he’s like been there every practice round for me but making things easier and just telling me when we had that dinner just over a year ago, just telling me if you’re good enough, you’re going to get out here at some point. Everyone’s path is different. You don’t know how quick or how slow it’s going to get there, but if you’re good enough you’re going to get here.” Not only has Morikawa, who won a Korn Ferry Tour event as a freshman in college, gotten to the game’s highest level, he’s solidified his spot there. He’s nothing if not a fast learner, and more days like Sunday are only going to help. “It’s not a surprise,” he said honestly. “It’s just a lot of belief in myself that I could do this, and like I said, I go back to being comfortable. Comfortable, I think is the best word for a lot of these guys out here because they’ve been out here for many years. “They know the courses, they know where to hit it, and for me it’s getting as comfortable as I can as quickly as I can. I felt a lot more comfortable in this first hole playoff than I did in that last playoff at Colonial, but I still wouldn’t say I’m at where I felt perfectly fine. “By the second playoff hole today I felt very comfortable, and I knew let’s just play some golf.” And that’s what Morikawa does best.

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Justin Thomas, the fifth ranked player in the FedExCup standings and reigning PGA Champion, has committed to play in the 2018 Honda Classic, which will be held February 19-25 at PGA National Resort & Spa. Thomas, 24, is coming off a breakthrough season in which he won five PGA TOUR events and was named FedExCup champion and 2016-2017 Player of the Year. “It’s something I know how hard it is to do because of how the deep the TOUR is right now and how many great players there are and how guys are winning three, four, five times a year every year,” Thomas said. “It’s something that’s going to be tough to continue or tough to replicate in terms of last year. But I’m definitely going to give it my best.” Thomas’s five wins came at the CIMB Classic, SBS Tournament of Champions, Sony Open, PGA and Dell Technologies Championship. He joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth as the only players since 1960 to capture five wins in a season, including a major, before the age of 25. In 25 starts, he tallied a TOUR-best 12 top-10 finishes (tied with Spieth) with 19 made cuts and those performances led him to the Arnold Palmer Award as the TOUR’s leading money-winner ($9,921,560). Now the question is what Thomas will do for an encore. “I know I’m constantly going to get reminded of what I did last year versus this year and whether it’s better or whether it’s worse,â€� Thomas said. “The hardest part of the season is going to be staying in the moment and recognizing that it’s a new year. It’s a new opportunity for great things, and I just need to continue to work hard.â€�

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Sam Burns had a three-shot lead with five holes to play Saturday and had to make an 8-foot bogey putt on the 18th hole just to keep a share of the lead with Keegan Bradley in the Valspar Championship. RELATED: Leaderboard | Inside the Field: Wells Fargo Championship Burns had two bogeys over the final three holes at Innisbrook, both from errant tee shots, and he did well to make sure his finish wasn’t worse. He had to two-putt from 75 feet on the final hole for bogey and a 2-under 69. Bradley, who got back in the mix by chipping in for eagle, also bogeyed the 18th for a 69. They were at 14-under 199, tying the 54-hole tournament record set by K.J. Choi in 2002 and matched by Adam Hadwin in 2017. Both Choi and Hadwin went on to win. This was hardly a two-man race, not the way Max Homa finished. Homa ran in a birdie putt from just inside 30 feet on the 15th hole, and after a bogey on the tough 16th, he closed out his round of 66 by making a 35-foot bending birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th. That makes seven putts from 25 feet or longer this week for Homa, and it left him only one shot out of the lead as he goes for his second PGA TOUR victory this year. Burns has at least a share of the 54-hole lead for the third time this season. He shot 2-over 72 in the Vivint Houston Open to tie for seventh, and his 2-under 69 at Riviera left him one shot out of a playoff at the Genesis Invitational won by Homa. If the last hour was any indication, it doesn’t take much for the Copperhead course at Innisbrook to bite back. “There’s some birdies out there,” Abraham Ancer said after his 66. “But this golf course, if you’re not in the right position, man, you can make some bogeys quick.” And thanks to a few quick bogeys by the leaders, Ancer is suddenly back in the mix. He was in the group at 10-under 203, just four shots behind, that included Ted Potter Jr. (63), Joaquin Niemann (67) and Cameron Tringale (67). Niemann began his week at Innisbrook in the same group as Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, Nos. 1 and 2 in the world, who are no longer part of the equation. Thomas had a 67 and was eight shots behind. Johnson took double bogey on the 16th and 18th holes for a 74 and will be out of town before the final group tees off. Paul Casey’s bid for a third consecutive win at the Valspar Championship is gone, too. He shot 72 and was 12 shots out of the lead. The top three all made eagle during a sweltering Saturday, all in different fashion. It started with Burns, who sent a 3-hybrid soaring with such height that it pitched in front of the first hole and settled 30 inches away for a tap-in eagle. Burns also made a 35-foot birdie putt on the third hole and hit a tough bunker shot to 10 feet for birdie on the fifth. Bradley could barely keep up with him. Turns out he didn’t need to do much. Burns didn’t make another birdie over the final 13 holes, losing a chance to at least keep his distance. The lead was three shots when Bradley missed a par putt on the 13th hole. But on the par-5 14th, Bradley went for the green and came up short and to the right. He chipped in for eagle, and on the next hole, and two holes later, Burns bogeyed the 16th. Homa made his eagle the hard way, holing out from 138 yards on the sixth hole, which only yielded eight birdies the entire round. But he saved his best work for the long birdie putts, his strength all week. Homa started the round four shots behind Burns and Bradley, and he fell seven shots back after the opening four holes. That didn’t bother him. “I just knew if I posted 4 under-ish I would at least have a chance tomorrow, but that’s all you can do out here,” Homa said. “The moment you try to shoot 8 (under), you’re in trouble. So yeah, feels good to have a chance.”

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