RUMFORD, Rhode Island – Cal junior golfer Collin Morikawa (64-65-66-70 – 265, -11) picked up the seventh win of his career in major collegiate or amateur play Saturday when he hoisted the hardware after a two-stroke victory over Shintaro Ban (67-66-72-62 – 267, -9) and Theo Humphrey (65-63-71-68 – 267, -9) at the Northeast Amateur that wrapped up play at the par-69 Wannamoisett Country Club. Morikawa's win was his second of the 2017 calendar year following his collegiate victory at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational in March. He also won twice in 2016 at the Sunnehanna Amateur and Silicon Valley Amateur, while he was the 2015 Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship and Champions Invitational winner, as well as the 2013 Junior Amateur champion. Morikawa has also finished second or tied for second five times major collegiate or amateur play.

"Winning the Northeast Amateur is an honor," Morikawa said. "The history and past players in this tournament have extended to all great players and to be a part of their history is exciting. My name will forever be there as the Northeastern Amateur champion. I'm excited for what's next to come."

"I'm beyond excited for Collin and his win at the prestigious Northeast Amateur," Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf Walter Chun said. "His character, resiliency and determination was ever so prevalent this week after just missing out on winning the Sunnehanna. I mean to lose in a playoff and then bounce back with a win is really remarkable. His physical skills are quite obvious, but his mental toughness showed at the Northeast. I'm so proud of him."

Morikawa began Saturday's fourth and final round nearly three hours behind his originally scheduled tee time due to weather with a one-stroke lead over Doug Ghim (66-63-67-72 – 268, -8) after setting the event's 54-hole record with his 12-under par total of 195. Morikawa immediately increased his lead to three strokes over Ghim on the first of the hole day when he birdied and Ghim bogeyed the par-four first. Morikawa's lead shrank to two strokes after he bogeyed the par-four fourth but Ghim's second bogey of the round on the par-fourth fifth returned the margin to three strokes and a Morikawa birdie on the par-four seventh made his lead over Ghim four shots with 11 holes to go. Ghim would take three strokes off the margin to cut Morikawa's lead to a single stroke after a Morikawa bogey on the par-three eighth and his own birdies on the par-four 10th and 13th. But a Ghim bogey on the par-three 15th would make Morikawa's lead two again before both players bogeyed the par-four 16th hole. Morikawa bounced back with pars on the par-five 17th and par-four 18th to make it nine pars on his last 10 holes while Ghim would make another bogey on 18 to end up fourth behind Morikawa and the second-place duo of Ban and Humphrey.

"The first three days were pretty smooth, but today I got nothing going hitting some pretty poor tee shots and iron shots. However, I made a lot of par putts from about five feet that kept me in the leading heading down the stretch," Morikawa said. "Closing tournaments off isn't easy and every shot counts so it is was crucial to keep grinding and saving par."

Cal junior KK Limbhasut (70-73-67-72 – 282, +6) also competed in the event and finished in a tie for 50th.

The victory in his third event of the summer continued a tremendous stretch of play this month by Morikawa that began when he helped Team USA to an Arnold Palmer Cup victory two weeks ago and was selected by both teams to receive the Team USA Arnold Palmer Cup exemption into the PGA TOUR's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard in 2018. He then reached a playoff at the Sunnehanna Amateur last week while trying to defend his 2016 title before eventually settling for a second-place finish to the red-hot Braden Thornberry.

"It feels great to get back in the winner's circle and start the summer off on a strong note," Morikawa said. 

Moriakwa will return to amateur action July 10-13 at the Trans-Mississippi Amateur Championship that he won in 2015. Morikawa is ranked No. 3 in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking while checking in at No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and No. 7 according to AmateurGolf.com as of June 24, 2017.