DUBLIN, Ohio – Collin Morikawa had the perfect remedy to get over missing the first cut of his professional career.
Make six birdies and an eagle in your next round.
The emerging youngster out of Cal, who won the 2019 Barracuda Championship in just his sixth start as a pro, showed no ill effects from missing the cut in the Travelers Championship two weeks ago that ended his streak at 22. With a bounce back 7-under-par 65, he took up residence atop the leaderboard after Thursday’s sweltering first round of the Workday Charity Open.
Playing Muirfield Village Golf Club for the first time – “I fell in love with the course right away,” he said – Morikawa quickly put his first missed cut in the rearview with an eagle on the fifth from inside four feet and then six birdies in his next 11 holes. His lone blemish came on the last when he missed the green.
“It was a really solid day,” said Morikawa, who rapidly rose to No. 29 in the Official World Golf Ranking. “Got off to a good start with four pars but I was hitting them pretty close, hitting my iron shots good, tee shots felt great, and I knew if I just kept that going I was going to make some birdies.
“I didn’t know how many but just kind of build momentum off of that. The iron shots are where I really felt comfortable today, and just took advantage of those approach shots.”
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Those conversions led to a 1-stroke lead over Adam Hadwin. Two back at 67 were Zach Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Aaron Wise and Nick Taylor. Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed were in a group at 68.
With his usually stout iron play – he hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation in the first round – and his consistent accuracy off the tee – he hit 12 of 14 fairways in regulation – Jack Nicklaus’s revered layout at Muirfield Village seems an ideal fit for Morikawa for this week’s Workday and next week’s Memorial.
“It’s a beautiful track,” he said. “It’s a very tough course obviously, but you just have to map your way around it. You’ve got to be really smart. If you’re not in the fairway, you’ve got to make sure you play smart. So I was playing smart but I felt good with my irons, so I was able to attack some pins when they were accessible, so we’ll see how everything plays out tomorrow.”
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Chances are, it will be a good day. Morikawa began his pro career by making his first 22 cuts, which has been bested only by Tiger Woods in the past 30 years. Woods began his career by making 25 consecutive cuts. Coming so close to catching one of the game’ greatest players left Morikawa feeling a tad empty but far from demoralized.
“I flew straight home, got some dinner, hung out with my girlfriend. We’re fostering dogs, and just relaxed,” Morikawa said. “I think anytime any record is compared to Tiger it’s always going to be good. I fell short. But I’m always going to look at the positives. I don’t want to miss cuts.”
While he relaxed at home, however, Morikawa did some homework and studied up on his form this year. And then went back to work.
“I just had to kind of look back at my stats, see what I wasn’t doing well, what I did differently, what I was playing well, whether it was at Colonial or before the quarantine, and I just wasn’t hitting my irons as well,” he said. “I wasn’t giving myself chances to make birdie, and if I did, I wasn’t converting. I just had to work on some iron shots, work on the swing a little bit and just go back to the basics.
“So you kind of reset, get ready for this week, and every week is a new week, so you’ve just got to get ready, and the game felt good. I was excited to come back. To have two tournaments at the same course, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
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