Collin Morikawa wins WGC-Workday, joins Tiger Woods on exclusive list

On a course that was supposed to keep the world’s best in check, Collin Morikawa still got to 18 under as he won the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession Golf Club. Here’s everything you need to know from Sunday in Bradenton, Florida:

Leaderboard: Collin Morikawa (-18), Viktor Hovland (-15), Brooks Koepka (-15), Billy Horschel (-15), Scottie Scheffler (-14)

What it means: At just 24 years old, Morikawa is now part of some exclusive company. No, it has nothing to do with the Workday Slam (Morikawa also won the Workday-sponsored event at Muirfield Village last summer). Rather the Cal product is just the second player under the age of 25 to win both a major and a WGC. The first was Tiger Woods.

WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession: Full-field scores | Full coverage

How it happened: Morikawa entered the final round with a two-shot advantage at 15 under. He got off to a slow start, bogeying No. 2, and briefly lost his lead to Horschel on the fifth green. Horschel birdied first and Morikawa quickly matched to tie. From there, Morikawa’s putter came alive. He sank birdie putts between 7-12 feet on Nos. 7, 9 and 12, but his biggest make was a converted 12-foot par at the par-3 11^th hole, which helped Morikawa keep his comfortable cushion on the back. Hovland was the only other player who got close, pulling to within a shot after birdies at Nos. 12 and 13 – his birdie at the latter came after he got up and down from a near impossible spot near the edge of the woods. However, bogeys on two of Hovland’s next three holes ended his chances. Morikawa parred each of his last six holes, including two par 5s, yet still was able to win by three shots. He sunk an 11-footer at the last for good measure.

Round of the day: Carlos Ortiz capped his tournament in eagle-birdie to shoot 6-under 66 and climb 20 spots on the leaderboard to T-15.

Shot of the day: Hovland’s charge may have been short-lived, but we’ll be talking about this up-and-down birdie for a while.

Biggest disappointment: Rory McIlroy. OK, so he didn’t have much of a chance to win on Sunday, but considering he played the front nine in even par and the back side in 12 under for the week, that’s a disappointing split.

Quote of the day: “It just saved my life this week.” – Morikawa on an early-week chipping tip from Paul Azinger