Evening Telegraph (First Edition)

Morikawa happy to be playing at ‘home’

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WORLD No 5 Collin Morikawa (right) has extra motivation to put last week’s disappoint­ing finish behind him in the second event of the PGA Tour’s Hawaii double-header.

Morikawa went into the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui just a shot off the lead after back-to-back rounds of 65, only to struggle to a closing 73 and finish in a tie for seventh.

The US PGA champion has family ties to both Maui – where his grandparen­ts were born and once owned a restaurant – and this week’s venue for the Sony Open on the island of Oahu, where many of his cousins still live.

“We have so many cousins I lose count,” the 23-year-old joked in a pre-tournament press conference.

“I love the Hawaii swing. Any time I can start in Maui, come to Oahu, I’m going to be playing.

“Obviously having family out here, my entire dad’s side, it makes things a little more special and makes it feel more like home even though I never lived here.

“Any time you have a tie to a location or a golf course, whatever it is, it just makes you want to kind of win at that location a little more. So hopefully we have a good week this week.”

Morikawa’s victory in the US PGA in August came in just his second appearance in a Major and was his third win since turning profession­al in June 2019, but he was not satisfied

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“I wouldn’t say golf has been

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great at the tail end of 2020

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“I just had to reset. I win the PGA Championsh­ip, but the year’s not over.

“For me, it was just about figuring out what I want to do for the rest of the season. I still wanted more but I thought good play would just kind of lead over and that’s never the case.

“You have to come every week and every week is a new course and you just have to be prepared and that’s what I really didn’t do towards the tail end.”

Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas has withdrawn from the event after testing positive for coronaviru­s, with Ireland’s Seamus Power set to take his place in the field.

Vegas wrote on Twitter: “Not exactly how I had planned to start this season in the @ pgatour. Unfortunat­ely I just tested positive for Covid-19 and will be missing the next two tournament­s. I hope I can come back stronger from this.”

Vegas is the second PGA Tour player to withdraw because of a positive test this year after Jim Herman did so before leaving for Hawaii for the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

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