After falling short of securing the victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month upon losing a three-shot lead, Collin Morikawa chose not to speak with reporters after the fact. In the following week at the Players Championship, he voiced how he did not owe anyone anything and recapitulated his stance on the situation ahead of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National on Tuesday. As part of a segment on The Greg Hill Show on WEEI, the Boston sports radio program aired audio of Morikawa explaining the occurrence and critiquing the media for not asking him questions when he has experienced success in his golfing career.
Within his remarks, Morikawa discussed how he has been ranked in the Top 5 for points of his career and that there were plenty of instances where media did not ask him. As a result, he voiced that it was not his job to go out and divulge his story, although doing so could be done by playing well and winning tournaments. When the show finished playing the audio, Greg Hill had a pointed reaction on how Morikawa handled the query.
“Yeah, okay,” Hill said. “You never go full dink. Give me a break. We’re here to ask you questions, you’re here to answer the questions, and it’s going to be good for you to answer the questions, so knock it off.”
Chris Scheim, the executive producer of the program, dissented from Hill’s opinion and explained how he understands golfers deciding not to talk to media after losing the tournament. In fact, he referenced Rory McIlroy losing the U.S. Open Golf Championship and declining to speak with media members after the fact. Hill replied by conveying that Morikawa needed to “own it” and that it was a part of his job, later classifying him as acting like a villain in this situation.
“You finished second in the tournament because you choked, you’re pissed at yourself, you don’t want to talk to anybody, so you separate yourself from the situation, then get accosted for it later and stand up for yourself,” Scheim said. “That’s not being the villain.”
Chris Curtis, an executive producer for the station, talked about how Morikawa could stand up for himself or admonish those asking what had happened by simply saying that it occurred and that he was in disbelief he lost the tournament. Hill disagreed with this sentiment and communicated his thoughts on how golfers should be handling their media availabilities at different tournaments.
“You don’t get to pick and choose,” Hill said. “It’s a part of your job. You are paid handsomely when you are a professional athlete…. If you’re going to run out there when you win, then you should run out there when you lose.”
Later in the segment, he articulated how no one was saying he should be unable to golf but rather not to have that reaction when people wanted to talk to him. Instead, Curtis posited that Morikawa could disagree with what was being written but still make himself available for questions. Scheim voiced that when it happened originally, Morikawa spoke about not owing anyone anything and believed that was okay for him to voice.
“If after the tournament you’re pissed and you want to walk away because you want to separate yourself from the moment, that’s fine,” Scheim said, “and he accepted that.”
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