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KAPALUA, Hawaii — Collin Morikawa could make golf look easy. He has a shot in thoughts and the ball goes the place he is wanting. The distinction on the Sentry Match of Champions is that features photographs on the inexperienced.
He was notably efficient Saturday on the stretch of scoring holes on the again 9 of Kapalua, usually an opportunity for gamers to make up floor in a rush. Morikawa birdied 4 of the final 5 holes and pulled away.
He completed with a 15-foot birdie putt for an 8-under 65, giving him a 6-shot lead going into the ultimate spherical and a very good likelihood to eliminate the bitter style from final yr.
Requested if he was hungry to win once more — his final victory was the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November 2021 — Morikawa smiled.
“Yeah, that will be an understatement,” he stated.
The 2-time main champion employed placing coach Stephen Sweeney late final yr. It is not a serious change together with his stroke aside from a greater understanding of what he is doing. He leads the sphere at Kapalua in placing, mixed together with his pure iron play. It may be a daunting mixture.
Morikawa has but to make a bogey over 54 holes on the Plantation Course, and he has hardly ever come shut. He made a 10-footer for par on the fourth gap to keep away from a protracted three-putt, making that as pure as so lots of his birdies.
“It has been fairly easy at present. Type of over the previous three days, the place I have been wanting is form of the place the ball’s been going,” he stated. “I form of know what I am doing proper and after I hit a foul shot, form of what the error was. That is the most important factor.”
Morikawa was at 24-under 195, 6 photographs away from U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and Texas Open winner J.J. Spaun.
Morikawa is amongst 10 gamers at Kapalua who didn’t win final yr. Now it is an elevated occasion with a $15 million purse, and the PGA Tour selected to broaden the sphere to incorporate anybody reaching the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake.
Yet one more spherical like this and Morikawa could be assured of a tee time for subsequent yr.
Scheffler, who together with Spaun began 2 photographs behind, tried to maintain up with Morikawa. The birdies dried up on the again 9, nonetheless, and Scheffler missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th that a minimum of may have put him within the closing group. He needed to accept a 69.
Fitzpatrick had 5 birdies over his final seven holes in his spherical of 66 and shall be within the closing group for his first journey to Hawaii.
Spaun dropped 2 photographs on the again 9, one when his ball spun off the thirteenth inexperienced and rolled 50 yards down the golf green, the opposite when his second shot to the par-5 fifteenth sailed left and into the native grass. He had a 69.
Max Homa had no hassle, making a career-high 10 birdies for a 63 and questioning precisely how he did it. That solely bought him to inside 8 photographs of the lead.
“It did not really feel like I performed 4 photographs higher than my final two days mixed, however I did,” he stated. “It is simply not an excellent sport in your thoughts. However it was good to shoot 10 underneath.”
Jordan Spieth was 3 photographs behind to begin the third spherical and misplaced floor with three bogeys in his spherical of 71.
Everyone seems to be chasing Morikawa, and it seems to be to be hopeless.
Morikawa started his scoring with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 fifth gap, made a troublesome 20-footer for birdie on the subsequent and did all the pieces proper by doing so little incorrect.
The turning level got here early on the sixth gap after Morikawa and Scheffler every made eagle and the lead was nonetheless two. Morikawa made his 20-footer for birdie, whereas Scheffler went from a fluffy lie within the tough and got here up simply in need of the inexperienced, after which took three putts to get down. The lead was 4, and nobody bought nearer than three photographs the remainder of the best way.
Solely seven gamers in PGA Tour historical past have ever misplaced a 6-shot lead going into the ultimate spherical, most just lately Scheffler on the 2022 TOUR Championship.
Requested the final time he had an enormous lead, Morikawa smiled and talked about the Hero World Problem on the finish of 2021, when he led by 5 and shot 76 and tied for fifth.
“It is OK,” he stated. “I am over it.”
The forecast was for lighter wind within the closing spherical, and Morikawa stated he anticipated gamers behind him to be firing at flags and making an attempt to catch him.
From what Spaun noticed of Morikawa within the second spherical, which may not be sufficient.
“He is placing actually good. He would not miss a shot,” Spaun stated. “It is a arduous combo to beat.”
The Related Press contributed to this story.
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