Collin Morikawa Withdraws From The Players Championship

Morikawa teed off on No. 10 at 8:40 a.m. ET, made par on his opening hole, and then walked to the 11th tee. He took a full-speed practice swing, and that was it. He backed off immediately, reaching for his lower back with that all-too-familiar look of a guy who’s been through this before.

“I felt fine in warm-up,” Morikawa said. “Like nothing’s been any signs of back problems. And teed it up on 11, took one practice swing, and I just knew it was gone.”

He called over his trainer, had a conversation with caddie Mark Urbanek, and after attempting a few more swings, made the only decision he could. He withdrew. Playing partners Ludvig Åberg and Si Woo Kim will finish the round as a twosome.

Morikawa Described It As “Déjà Vu”

What makes this one sting even more is that Morikawa wasn’t surprised it happened. He was surprised that it happened. “Before I even took my practice swing, it’s like you had a weird déjà vu thing,” he said. “I took the practice swing and immediately knew I just couldn’t get through impact.”

Morikawa has dealt with back issues before—there were lingering problems at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and a withdrawal from the Memorial Tournament in 2023. So the pain wasn’t unfamiliar. What was unfamiliar was that it showed up completely out of nowhere, on a Thursday morning, when he was playing some of the best golf of his life.

“It’s just frustrating, because I don’t know what caused it,” he said. “Maybe something wasn’t activated enough, but I went through all the warmups, felt fine. It’s awful. I feel terrible.”

Morikawa Was Playing His Best Golf Of the Season

This is what makes the withdrawal so gut-wrenching. Morikawa didn’t come to Sawgrass as a fringe contender hoping to make the cut. He came as one of the pre-tournament favorites, riding a wave of form that had the golf world paying close attention.

He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this season. He finished T7 at The Genesis Invitational. He rolled into last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and walked away with a solo fifth. He was the FedEx Cup points leader. He had strung together 13 consecutive rounds under par. That is the longest active streak on the entire PGA Tour. Thirteen rounds. Under par. In a row.

The man was locked in. He’d spent his entire offseason rebuilding his body, getting stronger, getting fitter, doing everything right. “I put a lot of work into my body just to get stronger in general, get healthier,” he said earlier in the week. “Honestly, coming into this year, I had a lot of confidence.”

What This Means For Morikawa Going Forward

At 29, Morikawa is in the prime of his career. Two major championships already on his résumé, a world ranking inside the top five, and the kind of ball-striking ability that makes other tour pros quietly envious. A back injury like this, while genuinely awful in the short term, doesn’t have to derail an entire season.

But it does raise questions. How long will he be out? Is this a minor muscle spasm that clears up in a week, or something that requires more significant rest and treatment? Given that he’s dealt with back problems before, the PGA Tour’s medical staff will likely be cautious.

For now, Morikawa heads home without a single completed round at the Players Championship, leaving behind what could have been a breakthrough performance at Tour golf’s biggest non-major event. “I don’t know how to put it in words,” he said. “It just sucks.”