Collin Morikawa heads into The Masters after withdrawing from The Players during the first round because of a back injury. He hurt his back after taking a practice swing on the eleventh hole at TPC Sawgrass.
In an interview at Augusta National on Monday, Morikawa says he is “taking it day by day.” Morikawa was slated to play last week at the Valero Texas Open, but he withdrew to give himself more time to recover for The Masters.
According to Morikawa, the pain from his injury has subsided but it has hurt the confidence in his swing. He said, “It’s been a little bit of a mental battle, I think, just trying to trust with where it’s at. The back actually feels fine. It’s just other parts of the body not cooperating a little bit how I want.”
It is a similar story to that of Rory McIlroy at TPC Sawgrass. McIlroy noted that his back felt fine once he began playing at The Players. However, McIlroy still struggled throughout the week, finishing t-46 for the week. He actually gained strokes in all tee to green categories, but lost 1.22 strokes putting per round.
Given Morikawa stated that his back feels fine, it is just a matter of getting his swing in shape. He said, “When you hurt yourself swinging, it’s a completely different beast of itself because you just don’t know. There’s a little bit of a commitment, trust (issue).”
Morikawa Looks to Finally Breakthrough at Augusta
GettyMorikawa has five top 20s at The Masters in the last five years.
If Morikawa overcomes his back issues, he may be a great pick for the Masters this week. His form in 2026 has been exemplary over his last three starts, with a win at The Pebble Beach Pro Am and two other top 10 finishes at The Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
His form at Augusta has been excellent as well with five top 20 finishes over six starts at The Masters. In 2024, Morikawa was in the final group at The Masters with eventual champion and eternal number one player in the world Scottie Scheffler. However, Morikawa shot a final round 74 to finish t-3.
Morikawa is known as one of the best approach players in the world, and Augusta National is one of the toughest courses to take advantage of with the second shot. He’s a natural fit to succeed at this course.
A Season of Redemption for Collin Morikawa
GettyCollin Morikawa won his first title this season since the ZOZO Championship in 2023.
Morikawa began his career in professional golf as good as you can with five victories including two majors at The PGA Championship in 2020 and The Open Championship in 2021. After that, it was a struggle to earn consistent victories for the 29 year old golfer as he has only won twice since then.
Notably in 2023, Morikawa led the Sentry Tournament of Champions by six strokes going into Sunday. He eventually lost to Jon Rahm as issues with his short game plagued him in the final round. In 2025, Morikawa led the Arnold Palmer Invitational before losing to Russell Henley in the final round after an eagle on the par 5 16th.
With his victory at Pebble Beach earlier this season, that marked Morikawa’s first win since the ZOZO Championship in 2023. Now that Morikawa has gotten the proverbial monkey off his back, maybe he can finally claim his third major title of his career.
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