ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 5, 2026

Collin Morikawa

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. Solid day again. In contention, a familiar spot for you here. What worked well?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I think everything worked well and it was like everything was kind of a little bit off at the same time. Out here putting's very difficult, just because of how baked and dry the grass is. It doesn't really roll tight until about halfway through the putt. But I was able to really just trust my stroke, and made obviously a handful of putts out there. Irons felt pretty good throughout the bag. Then woods and the tee shots were a mix of everything. Took advantage of the good drives, had a few ones that were a little bit off. But 6-under and to be finished out here, pretty happy with the way Thursday's started.

Q. We talked to you here last year and you were super excited because you felt like you had found something in the swing that eliminated the left side of the golf course. We had heard that a couple times as you were trying to get back in the winner's circle, you would find it for a week or something. Wondering what the difference feels like now compared to when you would have those one-off weeks in the past?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I think last year you had to believe that it was going to be the change that you needed, right. Then until November, December when I said, screw it, like I'm going to put every ounce of my energy into fixing my body instead of trying to fix the golf swing. I'm going to fix, you know, fix the back, be healthy, get healthier, move better. Not that I was playing injured every single week, but there's a difference of moving freely and not being scared of doing things. And compare, the last couple years, maybe dancing around other aspects of the body. So that was the biggest thing is now it feels like when I wake up and I go and warm-up I'm ready to go. Versus trying to get into it and hopefully, and hoping that the one swing thought is going to sync up with how the body's moving. I'm really diligent with making sure the body's in a great spot every morning to then say, okay, the same feels are being able to translate into the rest of the game.

Q. I wasn't sure if you found any areas that were long rough last year that were short grass. Your thoughts on some of the changes?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I might have missed a couple greens like maybe just through where they might have been rough and it stayed in the fringe. I think some spots on the course make it a little easier, some make it a little bit harder. As the week goes on, those spots are just going to be nicer a little bit, because out of the rough you're always guessing about how firm and how much roll's it going to have. You might be able to have a little bit more control. I think the changes so far have been good.

Q. You spoke earlier about not getting over your losses as well. Does your finish today kind of help sort of rectify that and you know you can go out for the rest of the season?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, I'm never going to forget how I played last year. You don't want to forget about it. Like I still played solid. But you want to close out events. You don't dwell on it. You learn from it, you move on, you live from it and that's the biggest thing is, how do I take a lot of the good shots I had from last year -- and this is a course, coming into last year, like I said yesterday, I think I had two missed cuts in a row. So you go into it saying, okay, maybe there is a way I can come out here and figure out the golf course and then plot my way around. It's just nice to be able to continue that. Today I felt like I was kind of back and forth. Playing good golf, made some bogeys made some mistakes and to have that finish is a nice way to go into the next few days and say okay, how many days can we continue the good golf.

Q. When you open with a round like today and you know it's going to get a lot harder over the weekend how do you change mindset for the next few days?

COLLIN MORIKAWA: I wouldn't change mindsets. Mark and I had a very good game plan going into it. We were able to execute a lot of shots. But like you said, some of the shots that I hit today are not going to be 15 feet, they're going to be 30 feet, and that's just something you have to take and realize, like you got to take it when they come out here. But good shots, which are great, you know, why this course is so good is good shots get rewarded and hopefully that's the case and we get more good ones.

Q. Take us through the eagle.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Great drive. Did what I wanted. Then we were kind of in between shots. The wind kind of kept switching throughout the day. We were on 6-iron. Seemed like it went off the left, switched to 7-iron, and just hit a flush 7-iron. I hit three 7-irons to finish the day, three birdies, I'll take it.