Power seven back as Morikawa’s Donegal putting connection pays off
Collin Morikawa smiles on No. 18 during Practice Round 3 for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
Collin Morikawa had Donegal putting coach Stephen Sweeney to thank as he took control of the Sentry Tournament of Champions with another stunning performance on the greens.
Winner of the PGA Championship in 2020 and The Open in 2021, the Californian failed to win last year and turned to Florida-based Sweeney for help.
The world number 11 was the only player in the field to go bogey-free for the second day running as he made over 107 feet of putts and added a seven-under 66 to his opening 64 to lead by two strokes from Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and joint overnight leader JJ Spaun on 16-under par.
Séamus Power is seven shots behind Morikawa after he struggled to hit his irons close and added a 69 to his opening 68 and shared 12th place on nine-under.
While he's ranked 38th in the 39-man field for proximity to the hole, Power still made five birdies against a lone, three-putt birdie at the 14th to keep his title hopes alive.
He birdied the second, fifth and seventh to turn in three-under and followed a three-putt bogey from 33 feet at the 14th with birdies at the 15th and 17th.
Spain's Jon Rahm, who shared the overnight lead with Morikawa and Spaun on nine-under, carded a frustrating two-under 71 to slip back to tied sixth on 11-under.
But there was no stopping Morikawa, who hired Sweeney as his putting coach at the end of last year and has made huge strides on the greens.
Working on speed control with the Letterkenny man, who has also helped Shane Lowry over the past two years, Morikawa birdied four of her first five holes, then added three more birdies at the 10th, 14th and 15th to top the strokes gained putting statistics.
“I worked with Stephen a couple weeks ago, right after Christmas,” said Morikawa, who has also worked hard on his chipping with Parker McLachlin. “We just talked a lot and kind of went on this path of just trying to get good speed and it's kind of worked into everything on how I'm reading them and how I'm going through the motions there.”
He added: “Stephen's bringing in a wealth of knowledge on putting. Parker's bringing a wealth of knowledge in short game. It's just kind of putting us in a bubble and just getting us close enough to where we make our own kind of feels and just kind of go from there.”
Scheffler, who could topple Rory McIlroy as world number one should he tie for third, birdied his last four holes to shoot a second successive 66 and tie for second with Spaun, who shot 68.
Jordan Spieth made two eagles in a seven-under 66 to sit alone in fourth on 13-under par, while world number six Xander Schauffele withdrew with a nagging back injury.
A three-time winner on the PGA Tour last year, Schauffele withdrew after nine holes when he felt he couldn't swing a full speed.
He said he regretted not having an MRI after the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December.
"It feels like a very similar deal to the Bahamas," said Schauffele, who said he was flinching on tee shots and chunking irons. "In the Bahamas, I started to feel better each day. ... This is not getting any better. It actually feels worse when I swing."
Schauffele, who plans to play four times on the West Coast swing, explained how his caddie advised him to withdraw.
He said his caddie told him, "We have a lot of tournaments coming up. Are you going to look back and be proud of yourself for gutting it out and hurting yourself more? Or should we be smart here and pull out?"
