2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational: Top 10 Power Rankings at Bay Hill

It was a relatively successful jaunt through Hawaii and the West Coast swing for Collin Morikawa. He’s likely lamenting not picking up a win in that stretch, particularly at the Sentry Tournament of Champions where he lost a lead late on Sunday.

He finished solo second at the Sentry, solo third at the Farmers Insurance Open, and T-6th in his native Los Angeles at the Genesis Invitational.

Beating 90-plus percent of the field in three of four events is pretty solid.

Morikawa now seeks to keep it going on the other side of the country. He’s making his second Arnold Palmer Invitational appearance this week.

The Cal-Berkeley alum’s debut was in 2020 when he shot 70-71-75-73 to finish T-9th.

Morikawa’s won in Florida before at the one-off pandemic fill-in tournament at the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession Golf Club.

Both The Concession and Bay Hill feature a similar type of Bermuda grass.

The 26-year-old ranks third on the PGA Tour this season in driving accuracy (71.7%). Morikawa’s also eighth in total strokes gained per round (1.846).

His elite ball striking continues in 2022-23 at fifth in SG tee to green (1.783). Morikawa is no putting wizard out there, but he’s inside the top 100 and is slightly better than a net neutral in that category.

That’s a step in the right direction.

Morikawa also chipped well in his last start at Riviera and ranks 39th on the season in scrambling (65.06%). Let’s hope it wasn’t just a Kikuyu grass thing.