Collin Morikawa returns to winning ways with six-shot victory in Japan

Zozo Championship R4

Collin Morikawa claimed his first PGA Tour win for two years with a storming victory at the Zozo Championship in Japan.

The 26-year-old American began the final day two off the lead but a seven-under-par round of 63 at Chiba carried him to victory by six shots ahead of Eric Cole and Beau Hossler.

Morikawa, who is of Japanese heritage, carded seven birdies and no bogeys in a near perfect final round, finishing off in style with a birdie on the 18th for a 14-under par total.

“This has been one of those tournaments — there’s a few tournaments that are highlighted on my schedule, whether it’s L.A., Tiger’s event at the Genesis, or this one, you know, when you have something to look back on, right? Being half Japanese and looking back at that and just being able to connect with the people out here, it means the world.

“When you’re able to just kind of touch on that little aspect a little bit more, sometimes it pulls a little bit more out of you. When you’re able to represent the United States, right, whether it’s at the Ryder Cup or the Olympics, it just drives you that much more. I knew at the beginning of the week that the fans out here are obviously rooting for the Japanese players, but I like to count myself as apart Japanese player in that, so I felt the love. The fans have been incredible and I look forward to coming back many, many more
times.”

It brought him a first win since he claimed the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November 2021, which followed on from his victory at the Open the same year and was his sixth win on the PGA Tour.

“It was incredible. Yeah, it feels incredible. Every win’s so different, and every experience, whether it’s winning or losing, you learn a lot, but this one just meant the world. I mean, obviously having this kind of two-year drought, you know, just struggling at times, not really contending, to do what I did through this entire week, Thursday, Friday, and then how I started my round yesterday with a double bogey, it just — that’s the golf I miss playing. To see that and to see it again, it’s very exciting kind of just to close out this
year and head into next year.”

Morikawa won his first major title at the PGA Championship in 2020 in only his second appearance at one of golf’s four biggest events, a year after his maiden PGA Tour victory at the Barracuda Championship.

He was the first-round leader at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club but seemed to have dropped out of contention after a disappointing second-round 73 and then a poor start to his third round but he finished it with five birdies from the final six holes to put himself in a good position going into Sunday.

PGA Tour Rookie Eric Cole birdied his final two holes for a 70 to collect his second career runner-up finish.

Fellow American Beau Hossler also shot a 70 for his share of second place at 8-under.

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1R2R3R4Total
1Collin Morikawa-1464736663266
T2Eric Cole-865716670272
T2Beau Hossler-868656970272
T4Robby Shelton-765727165273
T4Ryo Ishikawa-768696967273
T6Min Woo Lee-669736765274
T6Kensei Hirata-671696866274
T6Ryo Hisatsune-669716866274
T6J.J. Spaun-669686968274
T10Emiliano Grillo-565716871275
T10Justin Suh-568666774275
T12Sungjae Im-467717068276
T12Cam Davis-467706970276
T12Satoshi Kodaira-467686972276
15Matt NeSmith-370726669277
T16Taylor Montgomery-269746768278
T16Yuki Inamori-269677171278
T16Kurt Kitayama-271706473278
T19Keegan Bradley-167707369279
T19Sahith Theegala-167736970279
T21Aaron BaddeleyPar68747068280
T21Aaron RaiPar73707067280
T21Taylor MoorePar71697070280
T21Ryutaro NaganoPar69756967280
T21Nick TaylorPar68736970280
T21Keith MitchellPar69717070280
T21Akshay BhatiaPar71697070280
T21Will GordonPar67756870280
T21Harry HallPar69746671280
T21Lee HodgesPar70726870280
T31Callum Tarren+170697270281
T31Young-han Song+168757068281
T31Nicolai Hojgaard+165776970281
T31Takumi Kanaya+169746870281
T31Mikumu Horikawa+165727371281
T31Davis Riley+170727366281
T31Mark Hubbard+170766966281
T38Zac Blair+266727371282
T38Xander Schauffele+267697571282
T38Vincent Norrman+272716871282
T41Nate Lashley+372687370283
T41Michael Kim+370756870283
T41Adam Scott+370737169283
T41Nick Hardy+371737069283
T41K.H. Lee+368767267283
T41Justin Lower+368726875283
T41Adam Svensson+373757065283
T48Mackenzie Hughes+470727072284
T48Tom Hoge+468766773284
T48Alex Noren+473747067284
T51Andrew Novak+567747272285
T51S.H. Kim+569717372285
T51Hideki Matsuyama+569766872285
T51Brandon Wu+572697371285
T51David Lipsky+570736775285
T51Keita Nakajima+573756671285
T51Adam Schenk+573736970285
T51Thomas Detry+574727069285
T59Cameron Champ+669746974286
T59Joel Dahmen+667727473286
T59Kevin Yu+669747172286
T59Dylan Wu+672717271286
T59Sam Stevens+672767167286
T64Sam Ryder+772726776287
T64Rickie Fowler+771736776287
T64Ben Griffin+770737074287
T64Kaito Onishi+770777268287
T68Matt Wallace+869777171288
T68Austin Eckroat+873747170288
T68Shugo Imahira+870777269288
T68Trevor Werbylo+874727468288
72Hayden Buckley+971717572289
T73David Lingmerth+1070727771290
T73Aguri Iwasaki+1073757171290
T73Taiga Semikawa+1071757668290
76Tyson Alexander+1173717473291
77Ben Taylor+2073846974300
W/DGarrick Higgo-82---82
Updated: November 29, 2023
ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP 2023
Date: 19th October - 22nd October, 2023
Location: Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, Chiba, Japan
Purse: $8,500,000

Join the discussion

Post a comment

2 comments

Comments are closed.