Collin Morikawa was in prime position to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the back-9 last Sunday.
That is, until Russell Henley chipped in for an unlikely eagle on the 16th hole to take a one-stroke lead. Morikawa is no stranger to crushing defeats on the PGA Tour despite having some pretty decent hardware already in the trophy case.
But Sunday’s crushing defeat clearly did not sit well with Morikawa, so the two-time major winner skipped his post-round press conference.
That decision has opened him up to some criticism from the press. So at Morikawa’s press availability prior to this week’s Players Championship, he was asked why he skipped his Sunday press conference last weekend.
“Yeah, just heated. Just pissed,” Morikawa answered. “Like, I don’t owe anyone anything. No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I didn’t want to be around anyone. Like, I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t need any sorries. I didn’t need any ‘good playings.’ Like, you’re just pissed.”
That answer was not satisfactory for former PGA Tour winner Rocco Mediate. Earlier this week, the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up had some inflammatory words for Morikawa on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio.
Mediate called Morikawa’s explanation the “biggest bunch of horsesh*t you could ever say, period. I mean, that is the dumbest, most selfish garbage you could ever say. Mr. Palmer would’ve hunted him down.”
On Tuesday, Collin Morikawa explained why he skipped the post-round press conference. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Hmsu2OnxkQ
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) March 12, 2025
“He said, ‘I don’t owe anybody anything.’ Actually, he does,” Mediate continued. “The people that are watching. The reporters that bust their ass to write stories about our sorry asses. And I get this sh*t? No, pathetic. You can say it. You can put it all, I don’t care. Come to me, Collin. We’ll talk about it.”
This, of course, is an age-old debate in sports media. What do the players truly owe the press? One could argue that fulfilling your media obligations is vital to the health of the product in a sport like golf, and the PGA Tour specifically, which is a member-run organization.
Earlier this year, Justin Thomas implored PGA Tour membership in a letter to be more open and accessible to the press, acknowledging that they are critical to the Tour’s operations. When you think about where Morikawa’s salary comes from, which is primarily thanks to the PGA Tour’s lucrative media rights deals with CBS and NBC, it is quite literally the media that has made his chosen career path very profitable.
So on that level, Mediate is completely right, Morikawa should have no problem speaking with the press even after a tough loss. But on a human level, it’s easy to empathize with Morikawa. Who would want to answer questions from a gaggle of reporters after a brutal and heartbreaking defeat? That scenario could quickly go south if you say the wrong thing in the heat of the moment. We “normal” people rarely have to confront tough questions from strangers during the lowest moments of our careers.
But we “normal” people also didn’t choose to become professional golfers. This is part of what you sign up for as a PGA Tour player. So, while it may be challenging to show face after a loss like last weekend’s, it’s pretty shortsighted to skip a press conference, and it does come off as selfish and entitled, even if that wasn’t Collin Morikawa’s intention.
