Morikawa falters, gives Workday contenders a chance

BRADENTON, FLA. >> PGA champion Collin Morikawa made seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch Saturday and made it look as though no one could catch him. All it took was two bad holes to turn the Workday Open into a chase.

Morikawa shot a 5-under 67 at the Concession Golf Club, a reasonable score except for what it could have been. When he drove to the front of the green on the 316yard 12th hole and made an 8-foot birdie, he was at 17-under par and no one else was closer than five shots.

He wound up leading by two shots over Brooks Koepka, who got his mistakes out the way early and shot 70, and Billy Horschel. who had a 69.

Rory McIlroy, who made a double bogey for the second straight day, was hopeful of getting to 10 under to at least give himself a chance. He did one better with a 66, including an eagle on the par-5 13th that gave so many players fits, and wound up just four shots behind.

Morikawa was at 15-under 201.

His troubles began on the par-13th, and it looked harmless enough when he put his approach from the rough into the bunker and blasted out to just under 25 feet for look at yet another birdie. Except that he left his putt 6 feet short, and missed the next one to take bogey.

“I never got it going again,” Morikawa said.

He also made bogey on the par-5 17th, the easiest hole at Concession on Saturday, by finding a bunker off the tee, having to lay up short of the water, and then hitting into another bunker.

Morikawa found plenty of positives. He still had a twoshot lead. His putting stroke feels better than ever, and a chipping tip from Concession member Paul Azinger has left him confident on the short-game shots off the Bermuda grass.

Koepka is thankful he still has a chance.

Staked to a one-shot lead at the start of the third round, he opened with two straight bogeys, answered with a two-putt birdie on the third but then followed with eight straight pars and found himself seven shots behind.

Koepka finished three birdies.

Horschel played alongside Morikawa, and he also felt like he gave one away on the 13th when he chipped from behind the green into a front bunker and made bogey, and then fell six shots back with four holes to play with another bogey.

But he birdied the 16th and made a 12-foot eagle putt on the 17th, and he was back in the game.

Webb Simpson had a 69 with and was three shots behind, followed by McIlroy and Patrick Reed (69), who will play together on Sunday. Also in the mix was Viktor Hovland, who represents what this course can do.

Hovland was 7 under for his round on Friday when he bladed a bunker shot at the wrong time and finished with a quadruplebogey 8 on the ninth hole. He put that behind him and had a better day. He holed out a wedge from thick rough 45 yards short of the green for eagle on No. 7, and he chipped in for birdie from 80 feet on the par-3 14th.

Hovland had a 66 and joined the group five shots behind at 206 that included Hideki Matsuyama (68).

Morikawa will be going for his fourth PGA Tour victory with a chance to join the list of players who have won majors and World Golf Championships.

In what started as a challenging 2020-21 college basketball season, both Oakland University men’s and women’s basketball teams find themselves hosting Horizon League Tournament games early next week.

The third-seeded Oakland men will play host to No. 6 Youngstown State on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., while the fourth-seeded OU women will host No. 5 IUPIU on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

OU men make most of ‘rebuilding’ year

The Oakland men’s basketball team got out to an 0-9 start to the season, but the Grizzlies improved as the year progressed.

A young squad with just one senior, the Grizzlies finished 10-10 in Horizon League play to earn the third seed of the league tournament.

“At 0-9, if you would have told me we’d be the third seed, I would have laughed at you,” Oakland men’s coach Greg Kampe said after their season finale with Milwaukee. “What a comeback for us. I’m really, really pleased. Our kids battled and it was a really good season for us. A total rebuild for us ends up in the three seed, I’m really pleased.”

Oakland was recognized with four conference honors this week.

Junior guard Jalen Moore was named First Team AllHorizon League while junior forward Daniel Oladapo was named Third Team AllLeague.

Oxford freshman Trey Townsend joined fellow freshman Micah Parrish as selections for the Horizon League All-Freshman Team.

Moore is averaging 17.8 points, 8.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game this season. He is currently leading the nation in assists per game, total assists (227), free throws made (154), free throws attempted (197) and total minutes played (1,009:50).

Oladapo is averaging 15.1 points and 10.3 rebounds per game during conference play.

Parrish is averaging 10.1 points, 5.9 rebound sand 1.6 steals per game during Horizon League action this season. Townsend has started all 27 games for Oakland this season and is averaging 9.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game during conference play.

On Tuesday, Oakland draws Youngstown State in the quarterfinals, a team that defeated No. 11 UIC last Thursday, 74-58. With a win, Oakland would advance to the tournament semifinals on Monday, March 8 from Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.

During the season, Oakland had great success with the Penguins, earning 82-65 and 81-74 wins at the O’Rena on Jan. 15 and Jan. 16.

The Grizzlies were successful in the paint in that doubleheader, collecting 66 points over the two games. In the opener, Oakland shot 51 percent from the field and 50 percent (10 of 20) from the arc.

Close games have been a big part of the season, as Oakland has had 14 of their 20 Horizon League games decided by single digits. Among them have been four overtime contests, in which Oakland is 1-3.

Oakland women take big jump in league play

The 2020-21 season was a step in the right direction for the Oakland women’s basketball team.

The Grizzlies made a big step up in league play, going from six wins last season to 12 this year.

Oakland coach Jeff Tungate credited his five seniors for getting the Grizzlies on track.

“It’s a special group. They’ve obviously had to overcome a lot of adversity. We pretty much hit rock bottom three years ago when we only won three league games. Last year it got up to six and this year we are at 12,” he said after their season finale with Northern Kentucky last week. “They are a big part of what we are doing and getting this thing trending in the right direction. I can’t be more proud of them.”

The 12-8 league record (12-11 overall) earned Oakland the No. 4 seed and a matchup with No. 5 IUPUI on Tuesday at 3 p.m. from the O’Rena.

“I’m pleased that we are able to get a bye and get to host a quarterfinal game. It says a lot for our kids and what we’ve done this year,” Tungate said. “I think we’ve had a solid year and to be able to host a game shows exactly what we’ve done. I think our team is very deserving of that. Having to play IUPUI, it’s tournament time, it doesn’t matter who you play. Anything can happen and our kids are going to be excited to play the game.”

Last season, IUPUI won the Horizon League Tournament as the top seed but didn’t get a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament due to it being canceled by COVID-19.

The Grizzlies already own two wins over IUPUI this season, 58-49 on Jan. 22 and 73-61 on Jan. 23 from the O’Rena. Both games saw the Grizzlies put together strong fourth quarters for the win. Oakland outscored IUPUI a combined 41-21 over both fourth quarters.

Kahlaijah Dean was a big part of those wins and Oakland’s success this season. She was named First Team All-Horizon League earlier this week.

A junior guard, Dean has earned conference honors in each of her first three seasons with Oakland. This year, Dean has averaged 17.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Dean became the 29th player in OU history to score over 1,000 career points this season.