Collin Morikawa says that "greed" got the best of him on Sunday at The Masters where he shot a two-over-par 74 to finish in T3rd and seven strokes behind Scottie Scheffler.
The two-time Major champion was matching Scheffler on the front nine before a disastrous double-par-double three-hole spell from the 9th to the 11th.
He left his ball in the greenside bunker on nine before pulling his approach into the 11th and finding the water. He came back with birdies at 13 and 15 before dropping a shot at the final hole to end the week at four-under-par.
"Greed got the best of me. 9, can't miss it over there and can't leave it in the bunker. 11, just tried to hit too perfect of a shot. It's not like at that point I was trying to press. I knew where I stood," he said.
"Yeah, it's just can't do that. In the past I haven't done it, but kind of where the game's at. You kind of find your little stride. We put a lot of pieces of the puzzle together this week, but after watching Scottie this week, I know what to do if I really want to close this gap on what he's doing and how impressive he's playing."
Morikawa spent the afternoon in the company of Scheffler, who closed with a four-under-par 68 and ease to a four-stroke victory. It's the World No.1's second Masters title and his third victory in his last four starts.
"He drives the ball plenty, plenty long, well past me. Hits his irons obviously spectacular. Keeps it simple. Makes the putts when he needs to. If he doesn't, still has plenty of chances. And just never put himself in trouble," Morikawa said.
"He was always one year older than me, but he's always been the top of his class. He was Rolex Junior Player of the Year when we were young. In our Wyndham Cup days, he was one of the best players out there. He always had it in him.
"It's impressive what he's doing throughout the bag. From junior golf, he was always a great short game player. His chipping and putting was always great. This whole putting-majig he was going through, I knew he was going to get out of.
"But to see what he's doing with his irons is crazy impressive because he's hitting every shot, he's moving both directions, and it's something that I admired that hopefully I can get my game back to that kind of spot."
Morikawa's T3 is his best Major result since his 2021 Open Championship win, and he now has three top-10s in a row at Augusta National. He hopes the form he showed this week will stand him in good stead for the next three Majors.
"This has been a weird year, but I saw a lot of good this week. Today was the first day where I really just mentally kind of gave a couple away. Sometimes it happens. The few times I've been kind of near the lead in Majors, I've performed pretty well.
"Today I think it's just a balance of everything between how the game feels and where the mental state is. It's just kind of getting back in that groove. This week was a real big thing for me, and I think I'm going to use this a lot kind of in this next little stretch of golf, especially since Majors, they all come one right after another."
