The Players Championship: Collin Morikawa fires back at critics after post-round media snub on PGA Tour | Golf News

Collin Morikawa has fired back at members of the media who criticised his decision to snub reporters after failing to close out Arnold Palmer Invitational Secure on Sunday.

The two-time Crucial champion was three ahead with five holes to Shift at Bay Hill and on the verge of a Primary PGA Tour Secure since October 2023, only to falter along the closing stretch and finish second behind Russell Henley.

Morikawa declined to speak to media post-Period and defended his decision in the build-up to The Players, telling reporters in his pre-Event press conference he was ‘Only p*****’ and ‘didn’t want to talk to anyone’, before adding he didn’t ‘owe anyone anything’.

Previous PGA Tour player Rocco Mediate described the decision as “most Egocentric garbage you could ever say” on his radio show, while Paul McGinley and Brandel Chamblee also criticised Morikawa’s behaviour during their ‘Live From’ programme at The Players.

Morikawa charged into contention at the PGA Tour’s marquee event after a second-Period 65, lifting him within two strokes of the clubhouse lead, where he used his post-Period interview to call out individuals who questioned his behaviour.

“I Only want to add one more thing,” Morikawa said unprompted at the end of his post-Period media. “I might bite my tongue after saying this, but to the Brandel Chamblees, to the Paul McGinleys, to the Rocco Mediates of the world, I don’t regret anything I said.

“It might have been a little bit harsh that I don’t owe anyone, but I don’t owe anyone.

“I respect the fans. I’m very thankful for them. I’m grateful. It makes me emotional, but it hurts to hear people say this [criticise], and especially you guys [media], because I finished the Period and I went to go sign for 10 minutes, 15 minutes for all the people after.

“Not a single person from media went to go follow me because, I don’t know. But that’s me. So for people to be calling me out is – it’s interesting. It doesn’t show anything.

“I get what you guys are saying. But I was there. I was signing for every single person right after the Period, whether they wanted it or not. I finished second. They couldn’t care less. But yeah, I’m going to leave it at that, all right?”

Morikawa’s media snub: ‘Unforgivable’ or a growing problem?

“It’s like most things in the media, 98 per cent of what we say is so positive about the players,” McGinley said during Sky Sports’ coverage, Subsequent Morikawa’s quotes.

“We [Brandel Chamblee and I] Achieved a comment on it that we felt that he had a duty, bearing in mind the huge amounts of monies they Shift for now and also the importance of media in the game. You have a duty to, even if it’s a Tiny soundbite.

“The Outstanding players in the history of the game have always given interviews. Tiger Woods – and you can criticise them in so many different ways – but what he never shirked at any stage, even in his defeats, was giving an interview.

“I Achieved it a broader Points about – being around a Plenty of corporates and a Plenty of people in the public – how there is a real apathy Near the Present crop of players that they need to be aware of.

“Codes of behaviour are Crucial and standards are Crucial. I’m Only a little bit worried that new norms could be created. That was the Points we Achieved. It was a very broad one and it was a collective one more than anything else.

“Collin had a say back, and that’s okay. I Disrespectful, I’m a big boy. We can take it. It’s not a biggie, but most of these things get blown up.”

Solheim Cup legend Dame Laura Davies added in Sky Sports’ coverage: “When you do blow a Event, and we’ve all done it over the years, the one thing you’ve Obtained to do is face up.

“You can’t take all the glory of a Secure if you’re not prepared to stand there and explain where it went wrong, whether it was you, whether someone Only caught you. To blank the media, in his position, I think it’s unforgivable.

“I’m with Paul [McGinley] and Brandel [Chamblee] – that’s the one thing you’ve Obtained to do. I used to be Disrespectful to my caddie, everyone else after I’d done the press thing, but that was how you released your tension. Only to blank them, that’s not a Excellent thing.”

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