Rich Lerner and Brandel Chamblee recap Round 1 of The Sentry, including Collin Morikawa’s stellar play that has him atop the leaderboard, and his personal attachment to Lahaina. #golfchannel #TheSentry #pgatour
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Collin Morikawa in ‘prime’ position after Rd. 1 at The Sentry | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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and hello again and welcome Rich sler
alongside brandle Shamy in case we’ve
all forgotten over the holidays these
dudes can flat play first tournament of
the Year first round of the tournament
didn’t see a whole lot of rust out there
par 73 scoring average was 68 and change
and at the top of that leaderboard some
of the best stories of 2023 you had
Scotty sheffler you had Xander shley you
had Colin morawa Patrick kley of course
Victor hin was up there uh and of course
I think one of the heart most
heart-wrenching best stories of 2023 was
camil vas it was great to see him go out
there and light the place up made over
150 ft of putts we talked about calura
CWA that this one means a little bit
extra to him given the family ties to
the island a year ago he had a six shot
lead brandle with nine holes to play he
came unglued on the back nine the short
game deserted him difficult out there uh
taking care of some unfinished business
he looked really good today he did and
you could maybe say there was a little
Scar Tissue when he left here uh last
year but he’s picking up right where he
was at the beginning of the last year
where he had the lead he’s the top of
the leaderboard he had the 18 the 36 and
the 54 hole lead last year so it’s worth
taking a look at some of his shots today
because it was fun it was it was good
stuff right from the get-go he hit the
very first t- shot of those of you who
are keeping track of 2024 of this
signature era it is now in full swing
what a gorgeous move this is of course
the first Fairway it’s a hard one to hit
when you hit it as far as these guys do
gets over that hill and from there it’s
not going to stop until it runs down
into the rough which leaves a pretty
difficult approach shot but not for him
he had a beautiful shot to about 8 ft
but missed it by the time he got to the
ninth he was too under par he bir the
third the fifth beautiful drive here off
of the n and the second shot was nothing
but a Sublime execution uh this was off
a downhill line with the three-wood you
got to get it elevated get it way up
that hill which is about 40 ft above the
players gave a great look at Eagle Rich
this is how you get the year started
let’s go ahead and do that Colin more
all right we got do that right out of
the gate good stuff turns in four under
par and now at the par 410 drove it down
the left side so he had you know it’s
hard to get a flat lie here at the tent
but watching him work the face there
hold off that face and that hook lie to
get that cut couple of feet away you see
it they were throwing darts out there
the wind that is so often prevalent was
not really a factor today how’s the
putting look looks good look last year
he putted beautifully here uh second
Strokes game putting so perhaps he’s got
some good looks some good vibes picking
up right where he left off last year I
know you love this bunker shot I did you
know he hit one earlier at the fifth
when he shortsighted all that speed you
know at times he hasn’t been that sharp
around the greens throughout his career
but it looks like you know there wasn’t
much of an offseason but uh he was
sharpening the razor for sure with the
short game whatever time he had off and
here we go 273 Yards famous shot here
this second to the home hole and just a
spectacular view a spectacular golf
swing one of the best in the game right
onto the green cut against the slope to
get it sort of hold up bit unlucky that
that one didn’t release and sort of
funnel down towards the
hole and so that would be a birdie at
the final hole for K morawa and he’s a
shot back morawa is down to 13th in the
world I I say down to because I think he
he would concede he’s better than that
he was almost number one a couple years
ago where where is Colin terms of his
career I would say look you know as the
world rank went down you got to win to
get those world rank jumps obviously he
hadn’t won until Zozo uh prior to that
his last win was the 2021 Open
Championship if we just take a look at
his numbers here you see it right there
just one missing one green That’s Not
Unusual these are Big greens they’re
tough to miss especially when the wind’s
not blowing but I would make the
argument that if you’re Colin more cow
you’re in Colin Mo cow’s Camp there are
are so many reasons to be optimistic uh
just want to take a look at another
graphic uh and just show you how good he
has been uh you know Strokes gain total
go back to 2019 of course he came out of
college fresh face kid one in short
order you see that in 2019 we put an
asteris there but still at the end of
the year total rank 14th the same in 20
racked up a win had that great PGA
Championship at Hardy Park but you’ll
see down there at the bottom from a
statistical standpoint he’s made
improvements in his Strokes gain around
the green he had Putter’s never been his
strongest asset and a lot of uh in a lot
of ways you can make this analogous to
Scotty sheffi Scotty was first in
Strokes gain approach you’re looking at
the guy was second last year in Strokes
gain approach but he was 114th on the
greens not as bad as Sheffer but that
was an improvement for colore CWA over
the three previous years where he was
not better than 128 so he made some
marginal improvements in his short game
and on the greens and that that’s why he
was playing the best golf of the year I
was on the show doing golf Central with
Anna Jackson towards the end of last
year at the Zozo and talking about look
there’s reason to be optimistic he’s
looking better than he’s ever looked in
a lot of different ways and boom he
breaks through with the victory at Zozo
so here he is in in another Prime
position looking to go for his second
win in a row on the PGA tour so uh you
know it’s not like he went away he
wasn’t winning uh but it’s good to see
him in uh full flight once again this’s
a guy who won two of his first eight
major starts has demonstrated chops in
the clutch in the heat the three-wood
you we saw the three-wood there
three-wood in San Francisco at Harding
Park to to win the PGA Championship at
the 16th hole where he made eagle mean I
always say this I even through the dips
the inevitable dips in a career I bet on
talent I bet on discipline and I bet on
intelligence he has all three of that he
does indeed I don’t know exactly what
his goals are I don’t know if he wants
to end his career as one of the best
players of all time but to be one of the
best players of all all time you really
can’t have a weakness you look at how
great a ball Striker VJ Singh was didn’t
have the necessary Sab Ware on the green
still managed to have one heck of a
career but I wouldn’t say he’s a top 10
or top 15 player of all time I mean he’s
he’s he’s amongst you know the the
rarified heir but you nobody’s going to
say he was one of the best players of
all time uh you got to you know you’re
getting Jack Nicholas you’re getting
Tiger Woods you’re getting Tom Watson
you’re getting Palmer you have to have
everything he’s a little spotty around
the greens made improvements last year
little spotty on the greens made
improvements last year uh much like
Scotty Sheffer uh you got to get all of
those sort of ducks in a row it’s a
great life they’re well compensated but
the world in which they live they’re
always asked to prove something you
Jordan Speed you won three Majors now
what you’re 30 years old he’s 15th in
the world so he’s in that group I’m
talking about Mora withp Justin Thomas
guys who’ve tasted greatness who are
trying to work their way back and with
more on Colin let’s welcome Todd Lewis
from caloa
Todd yeah hi there Rich it has been
talked about colore CWA has Deep Roots
on this island his grandparents were
born on Maui they opened a restaurant on
Front Street in Laina ultimately they
sold that restaurant and just a few
years ago Colin was presented a
matchbook from that restaurant that was
purchased on eBay he was quite touched
when he saw that matchbook and of course
when those devastating fires hit
Lina it was crushing for Colin to watch
the news that laah was burned basically
to the ground so when he arrived here on
Maui of course he had a job to do compe
in the centry but he also came here with
a purpose to give back and help the
community that he loves because he used
to Vacation here as a kid he went to a
farm worked on that farm put food in
boxes to give those to those in need and
he’s also dona money throughout the week
to help out here on Maui and also today
he was given the honor of hitting the
very first t-shot of the century right
after the blessing of this championship
and he talked about how moving that was
for
him you know I wasn’t on the first team
for the opening ceremony but I heard it
as I was walking up to to go to the
range and um it got a little bit
emotional you know I think just because
I know what everyone has gone through
you know you hear from these families
and you meet everyone out here on Island
that knows someone or has been affected
you know firsthand and Maui’s small you
know Hawaii’s very very small so you
people know everyone and um just got
emotional so being able to hit that
first t- shot it was an honor um just to
be able to do that and um yeah it’s it’s
a it’s a great way to kick off the new
year yeah mentioned that Colin is
contributing financially as well he is
donating $2,000 for every birdie he
makes $4,000 for every Eagle he makes
look at his scorecard today and he
raised
$116,000 his uh clothing company that he
wears is going to match that um so Colin
is going to really be giving back here
to again the island that meant so much
to him and his family through the years
now one other thing in regards to what
he did on the golf course today if you
go back to the fall it was a very
difficult decision he made he parted
ways with his longtime swing Coach Rick
cessing house who taught Colin as a kid
growing up in Southern California and he
started working with Mark black bur who
was just named by Golf Digest the
teacher of the year and immediately
after making that move he goes on to win
Zozo in Japan he comes out today and
puts up that great number he feels very
confident in the direction his swing is
going right now and if he continues to
play as he did today the next three days
it could be a very emotional victory for
him
