PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Collin Morikawa shot 65 and carded nine birdies in the second round on Friday, squarely in contention at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

But before shifting his focus to the final 36, he squared with media calling him out for not being available after losing a three-shot lead with five to play at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week.

“For people to be calling me out is — it’s interesting. It doesn’t show anything,” Morikawa said. “I get what you guys are saying. But I was there. I was signing for every single person right after the round, whether they wanted it or not. I finished second. They could care less. But yeah, I’m going to leave it at that, all right?”

When Morikawa signed his scorecard Friday after a 7-under 65, he was 9 under for the tournament, tied with Rory McIlroy and two back of co-leaders Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia (11 under) with multiple groups still on the course.

Before The Players began this week, Golf Channel commentators Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley called Morikawa “fragile” for skipping out on media obligations after a disheartening loss. Rocco Mediate, currently playing on the Champions Tour, said Tuesday on PGA Tour Radio that Morikawa’s actions were “pathetic.”

“Your job is to tell people what happened. You lost? You lost. You got beat? That’s what happens,” Mediate said. “Guess what? Golf’s hard,” Mediate said. “Man up, talk about it and be done.”

Morikawa did not “leave it” on Friday, saying media could have followed him toward the area he was signing for fans for 15 minutes. And he offered a direct reply to Mediate, Chamblee and McGinley.

“I just want to add one more thing: I might bite my tongue after saying this, but to the Brandel Chamblees, to the Paul McGinleys, to the Rocco Mediates of the world, I don’t regret anything I said,” Morikawa said. “You know, it might have been a little bit harsh that ‘I don’t owe anyone’, but I don’t owe anyone.”

–Field Level Media