'You Guys Are Freaking Me Out Here' - Morikawa Upon Hearing Rules Incident Went Viral
The two-time Major champion was cleared of any wrongdoing after his ball moved on the putting green during day one at The Masters
Collin Morikawa shot a three-under-par 69 on day one at The Masters but the most memorable moment from his first round was a rules controversy on the 6th green.
The two-time Major champion was seen moving his marker and ball on the putting surface after his ball rolled back when he addressed it with his putter. He was cleared of any wrongdoing and went about it within the rules, but there were some allegations of foul play on social media.
The clip, originally only showing him replacing his ball, gained hundreds of thousands of views across Twitter and Instagram but a later video showing the full incident clearly showed his ball roll first roll back - something not captured in the first video where the allegations were being made.
A much clearer look at what happened on 6 for Morikawa at #themasters pic.twitter.com/ll0rzbB2ZHApril 6, 2023
Morikawa was asked about the incident after his round, where he said "you guys are freaking me out" before joking to "blow it up" in order to gain him a better position in the Player Impact Program, where PGA Tour players earn bonus money for off-course activities and social media hits.
"The ball moved, and then I moved it back. Pretty standard now. Pretty routine in our rules book thankfully," Morikawa said.
"Look, if I showed up to this course and it was firm and fast, I probably would never put my putter down because you never know when that's going to just trickle on. Now it's was on a little mound and moved and nothing wrong with that."
The World No.12 was then further questioned on the incident and asked whether a rules official had been in touch, before being informed that the clip went viral.
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"No. Is that a big talk? So they what? Good. Bring that PIP up. Blow me up, guys," he said.
"With the marker like this far behind. Because I threw it down because I was going to throw the marker back. I'm not fine. There's no rules official. You guys are freaking me out here. I'm going to get hunted down."
"You're good," Morikawa was told. "Good. PIP's going up," he replied.
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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