US golfer Collin Morikawa recovers from horror start in Zozo Championship 3rd round to trail by two

INZAI – Collin Morikawa recovered from “mistakes after mistakes” on Saturday to finish two strokes off the lead going into the final day of the US PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Japan.

The American, playing in his first tournament since the Ryder Cup, started his round at Narashino Country Club with a double bogey before dropping another shot on the fourth hole.

But he fought back with eight birdies to just one more bogey to card a four-under 66, putting him on seven-under 203 overall and within striking distance of sole leader Justin Suh.

Morikawa said that his comeback “shows that my head’s in the right space”.

“I’m very happy with how everything kind of came about and, obviously, the nice little string of birdies was a nice momentum swing,” he added.

“The par putt on 17, the putt on 18, all these things are just great little momentum things heading into tomorrow.”

The 26-year-old, who led after the first round of the 78-man, no-cut event on the outskirts of Tokyo, found himself in trouble straight away. First he played a shot that nestled against a tree, then three-putted when he managed to get onto the green.

He said “that stuff shouldn’t happen but it did”, but was encouraged by his response.

“I knew I was still hitting my irons good, I just had to give myself opportunities,” he said. “Just seeing good shots, seeing quality shots go forward, that’s important.”

Suh carded a 67 to move to nine-under, one shot ahead of Eric Cole (66) and Beau Hossler (69).

Xander Schauffele plummeted down the leaderboard after a 75 that left him one over overall.

The Tokyo Olympic champion, also playing his first competition since the Ryder Cup, had a bogey on the second hole before hitting a double bogey two holes later.

He had another three bogeys to one birdie before the end of his round. Defending champion Keegan Bradley also faded out of the picture after a 73 that left him even par overall.

Hideki Matsuyama (68), the 2021 champion, was even further back on three over.

Things went better for Suh, who had five birdies to two bogeys and said he was “satisfied” with his performance.

“I think overall, throughout the day, we just tried to find fairways, greens,” said the American.

“Obviously, in the beginning, I missed a few greens but I was on the correct side and I thought making those critical up-and-downs were huge in the beginning.”

At the BMW Ladies Championship in Paju, South Korea, Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa carded a three-under 69 to move into a share of the third-round lead at the LPGA event.

Australia’s Minjee Lee (71) also had a 12-under total of 204 at the Seowon Valley Country Club, outside of Seoul.

The duo were a stroke ahead of defending champion Lydia Ko (69) of New Zealand and American Alison Lee, who carded a 67. AFP