How Collin Morikawa sparked career-best birdie run at Tour Championship
My word of advice for PGA Tour bettors: Don’t fade Collin Morikawa in the first round of the Tour Championship.
Much more importantly, Collin Morikawa had some advice for himself after opening his final FedEx Cup Playoffs event with an impressive 5-under 66 at the revamped East Lake Golf Club.
It’s just one round.
After all, he opened 61-64 in 2023, only to shoot 5-over for the weekend.
Here’s how Collin Morikawa caught fire in the scorching Atlanta heat in Round 1 of the Tour Championship.
Collin Morikawa surges with ‘hard to believe’ birdie run
Morikawa — amidst a strong, yet winless PGA Tour campaign — arrived at East Lake seventh in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning he began the Tour Championship at 4-under par, six strokes back of Scottie Scheffler.
The two-time major champion was unremarkable on the front nine, carding two bogeys (No. 3, No. 7) and one birdie, on the par-5 sixth.
At the turn, Morikawa made a critical mental adjustment: Do less.
“After nine I told myself to start only thinking about my shot and not worrying about if the ball is going to be perfect or not,” he recounted afterward. “We executed some shots, made some putts.”
Beginning at No. 10, Morikawa rattled off six consecutive birdies, tying a career-high (“find it hard to believe”, he said of the stat). That run included two par-3s (No. 11, No. 15) and an easy par-5 (No. 14).
“I wish it would have started on hole 1, but it’s going to be a good reminder going into the next three days that I’ve just got to see my shot and execute,” he said. “I was just thinking a little bit too much. Not that I’m trying to do too much, but there’s this nice flow and rhythm in your routine sometimes when you’re playing well, and it’s how do you find that. Sometimes it’s just barely off but it causes some bad shots.”
SIX straight birdies for @Collin_Morikawa!
Safe to say he’s enjoying East Lake’s restored back nine. pic.twitter.com/k1Tm9sHWph
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 29, 2024
Like Scheffler, when Morikawa — the sport’s secondary iron maestro — finds his putting groove, he can shred courses as decisively as anybody. On Thursday, the 27-year-old was slightly below average on approach, but gained over a shot and a half on the field with the flatstick.
“Look, the game is good enough to come out here and win,” he said. “I’ve just got to get out of my own head. I’ve talked a lot about that. It’s hard because you try and perfect this game, and it is what it is. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, but you make doable scores. Today just got in a nice rhythm kind of around that turn.”
Scheffler produced the low-round of the day, with a 6-under 65, because of course he did. The World No. 1 sits at 16-under thanks to the staggered scoring system. Morikawa and Schauffele (-1, 70) are T2 at 9-under.
Despite his serious tone — and the scoreboard — Morikawa insisted he was happy with how his Thursday turned out.
“No, I am,” he said, unconvincingly. “It’s the first day. I’ve got three more days.”
The post How Collin Morikawa sparked career-best birdie run at Tour Championship appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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