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BRADENTON, Fla. — Collin Morikawa shook off an early mistake and played a steady hand on a golf course known for calamity, closing with a 3-under 69 for a three-shot victory in the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Collin Morikawa Morikawa picked up a few short-game tips from major champions — Mark O’Meara on his putting, Concession member Paul Azinger on the chipping — and he says it carried him to another big win. And there was a tribute to Tiger Woods, his golf idol growing up. “We don’t say `Thank you’ enough,” Morikawa said, referring to how much Woods has raised the profile and prize money in golf. He also mentioned his grandfather dying a month ago and began to get emotional. Morikawa won by three over Brooks Koepka (70), Viktor Hovland (67) and Billy Horschel (70). He finished at 18-under 270 and became the 24th player to win a major and a World Golf Championships title since this series began in 1999. He joined Woods as the only players to win both before turning 25. There were red numbers on the board and on the golf course, with several players wearing red shirts and black pants — the Sunday colors of Woods — as a show of support as Woods recovers from leg injuries from his car crash in Los Angeles last Tuesday. “Red and black, we know that’s what Tiger does on Sundays, so just to join in and just let Tiger know we’re supporting him in the best way we can,” Tony Finau said. “We’re still playing and we miss him out here, but it was cool just to be a part of that.” Morikawa didn’t have the colors, but he had the game. So many times on Sunday, Woods had the lead and forced everyone to catch him. Outside of a chunked chip on the second hole that made him scramble for bogey, Morikawa didn’t miss a fairway the rest of the way and was rarely out of position. Horschel caught Morikawa after three holes and tried to stay with him. Koepka had the last good chance to catch him until he three-putted for par from 35 feet on the par-5 17th hole. Hovland, who finished his second round with a quadruple bogey, might have had the best chance of all. Hovland someone managed to punch out of the wire grass and onto the green to make birdie on the par-5 13th, his seventh birdie of the round that pulled him with one shot. His hopes effectively ended on the next hole. Just as Morikawa was pouring in an 8-foot birdie putt on the short par-4 12th hole, Hovland ran his 40-foot birdie putt some 15 feet past the hole on the par-3 14th, and missed the par putt. Morikawa’s lead was back to three shots, and he never flinched the rest of the day. Scottie Scheffler also was in the mix with six birdies in 12 holes. He followed a bogey from the bunker on the 14th with another birdie to stay close, only to hit his tee shot into the water on the 16th hole to make double bogey. Scheffler still shot a 68 and finished alone in fifth. Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed, both dressed in red and black, never got anything going. McIlroy closed with a 71 to tie for sixth, while Reed shot a 72 and to finish another spot back. “I think just for everyone to show their appreciation for what he means to us out here,” McIlroy said of the tribute. “If there was no Tiger Woods, I just the think the TOUR and the game of golf in general would be in a worse place. He’s meant a lot to us, he still does mean a lot to us and I think that was just a little way to show that.” Reed won this WGC last year in Mexico City. It was moved for this year to Concession because of COVID-19 circumstances.

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MEXICO CITY – Jon Rahm aced the 17th hole on the way to a course-record, 10-under-par 61 at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec. He reached 11 under total, just four off the lead of previous course record holder Justin Thomas (65), after a round that saw Rahm birdie six of his first seven holes. “With the start I had today, the only thing in mind was trying to get as close as possible to the leaders,� said the 25-year-old Rahm, who has three PGA TOUR victories. RELATED: Leaderboard Thomas and Erik van Rooyen had previously shot 62. Thomas had done it twice. The hole-in-one on 17 was from 158 yards and Rahm used a gap wedge. It was his second career ace on the PGA TOUR. Chez Reavie also had a hole-in-one, at the third hole, Saturday. Rahm’s hot start was tempered some by a three-putt bogey at the eighth hole and his failure to birdie the downhill, par-5 11th, but he finished with birdies on 13 and 15 before his ace on 17. When did he begin to suspect it might be a special day? “After four,� he said. “I basically had tap-in, tap-in, tap-in and 10 feet for birdie.� Rahm hit nine of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens, and took just 25 putts, his fewest of the week by three. He made 111 feet of putts, and ranked third in Strokes Gained: Putting for the day. “I think a lot of us like to talk sometimes about how unlucky we get,� said Rahm, who got up and down for par both times he missed the green, “and I think today was one of those days where I got fortunate. I hit the right shots and I got the right bounces, and I took advantage of it.�

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Doug Ghim and Justin Suh were pretty disappointed with the ragged finish to their round on Friday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The two were humming along nicely in the foursomes format but made bogeys at four of their last six holes to turn what was a solid effort into 73. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Tee times Ah, but youth bounces back better than most. Ghim, 25, and Suh, 23 – the youngest pair to make it to the weekend at Zurich – viewed Saturday as a new day, with new opportunity. They would shoot 8-under 63 to give themselves some hope heading into Sunday. Starting their day tied for 20th, the two moved inside the top 10 and are at 15-under 201 heading to Sunday, four shots behind leaders Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Both Ghim and Suh live in Las Vegas, and the team was formed with the help of their agents. Suh was a decorated amateur, an All-American at the University of Southern Cal who set a Trojans record for most rounds in the 60s (64). He also is a part of that talented class of 2019 that includes Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff, just waiting to make his splash. He simply lacks the proper status to get starts right now. Suh has only four starts thus far in 2021, including top-35 finishes at PGA TOUR stops in Puerto Rico and Punta Cana. His only other start this month was on the Korn Ferry Tour. For Suh, this marks an important week. He knew going in that if he and Ghim were to find some magic in New Orleans and win, it would mean a PGA TOUR card for him. “It’s a perk,” Ghim said. “I wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t have showed up, wouldn’t have tried so hard to get Justin into this tournament if I didn’t think we could win together. When Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt won (at Zurich in 2017, the first year of the team format), that’s how Cameron got his status. “It would mean the world to me (to help Justin get his card). It would mean that I would also have another buddy on TOUR from home, which would be huge. Anything I could do to help would be awesome.” Here’s how different the formats are at Zurich. In the Friday foursomes (alternate shot), the low round was 68. It’s pressure packed. Saturday, Suh hit his opening tee shot out of bounds; Ghim birdied the hole. Ghim birdied the next hole, too, and then Suh soon joined in. He’d make seven birdies, including one at the difficult par-3 ninth (7 feet) and one last one at 18 (4 feet). Ghim tried to settle his partner’s nerves early on by suggesting the two play a birdie game, at $20 a birdie. It helped. Ghim lost, but later said it was the best $60 he ever has parted with. Suh looks for more of the same tomorrow in foursomes, hoping for a much better finish than the one he and Ghim had on Friday. “This has been a lot of fun,” Suh said. “I’m really glad that Doug chose me as his partner for this week. We’re just looking to play good golf tomorrow.” Given their Saturday show, at least they have given themselves an outside chance.

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