Collin Morikawa manifests Sunday 61, misses Travelers Championship playoff by one

Collin Morikawa said he manifested his sizzling Sunday effort.

Although he fell just short of the playoff – set to be contested Monday between Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler – at the Travelers Championship, at the end of a busy stretch of golf Morikawa was awfully pleased with his final result at TPC River Highlands.

Morikawa shot a 9-under 61 in the final round, the low round of the day. He finished at 20 under for the week, just one back of Scheffler and Hovland.

“This was my third week in a row. The thought of actually having a chance, waiting it out, didn't really cross my mind. But I told my wife earlier this morning that, you know, let's shoot 61 and end the three-week stretch on a good note and sometimes the way you manifest things works out,” Morikawa said.

Morikawa opened with two straight birdies and went out with a 5-under 30. He added another on the par-4 10th and two more on Nos. 13 and 16. In the driving rain on No. 18, he rifled his approach from the fairway bunker to just eight feet and rolled in the birdie for a closing circle on the scorecard.

For his final birdie of the day, given the conditions, Morikawa said his “thoughts were everywhere.” Specifically, he was focusing on his stance, and he said he was between a pitching wedge and 9-iron. He was chuffed with the highlight-reel result.

“I just didn’t feel comfortable at first with a pitching wedge just because I felt like, the way I (was) swinging it, I’m not able to give a hundred percent swings. Ball below your feet, that’s kind of the worst for your back and putting the stress on that. But the way the wind was … the wetness, the hardness of the sand, just played into my favor. I just had to make good contact,” Morikawa said. “I flushed it. It looked great. Really, really pleased with that shot because truthfully it could have gone anywhere.”

Morikawa gained more than six-and-a-half strokes to the field on Sunday and was first in Strokes Gained: Putting. This will be Morikawa’s sixth top-10 finish of the year, highlighted by his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Morikawa also withdrew from THE PLAYERS Championship after just one hole, citing a back injury. He took a month off before returning at the Masters where he finished tied for seventh.

Morikawa said Sunday he’d never waited around in the clubhouse for leaders to come through – in case he ended up tied and needed to head back out for a playoff (he did say he ate an ice cream sandwich while waiting). It was a weird position, he said, but obviously a “great position” as well.

He was “really, really happy” with the way he concluded his week at the Travelers – especially considering he’s still playing his way back from injury.

Morikawa admitted Sunday he still hasn’t been able to practice as much as he would have liked at this time of year because of his back. Morikawa said his next event will be The Open Championship and he’ll rest up until then and spend some quality time with his wife and newborn.

“(My back is) a lot better than what it was at the Masters, even through the PGA (Championship) but still not comfortable. I’m still kind of dancing around things,” Morikawa said. “Each shot I’m out there I’m focused so much on making contact versus hitting shots, and that’s a hard way to play. But thankfully the game feels good enough where I’m able to put some scores together like this.”