{"id":536999,"date":"2026-04-18T02:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/536999\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T02:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:05:25","slug":"morikawa-learns-from-masters-adversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/536999\/","title":{"rendered":"Morikawa learns from Masters adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"Collin Morikawa finished T7 in the Masters despite playing with pain. Logan Whitton, Courtesy Augusta National<\/p>\n

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA | Having finished his nine-hole pro-am round Wednesday morning at Harbour Town Golf Links, Collin Morikawa quickly scaled a set of stairs on a players-only bridge near the clubhouse, never breaking stride as he climbed up and then down on his way to a post-round appointment.<\/p>\n

A week ago, Morikawa had serious doubts that he would be able to tee it up in the Masters due to a back injury that erupted suddenly one hole into his Players Championship a month ago, prompting him to withdraw and shut down his prep work immediately.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just Morikawa\u2019s golf swing that was imperiled by the back issue. The hardest part was getting around, particularly at Augusta National, which is among the most physically demanding courses to walk.<\/p>\n

Uncertain until last Thursday morning whether he could play the Masters, Morikawa pieced together one of the more meaningful performances in his career, finishing T7 after shooting 9-under-par 279 while struggling to get around Augusta National.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy. It was probably the toughest physical and mental battle I\u2019ve ever had to go through. It just shows that sometimes if you believe in yourself that much you can push through some uncomfortable situations,\u201d Morikawa said while climbing the stairs Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Morikawa was off to one of the best starts of his career when the back issue popped up while he was making a practice swing on the par-5 11th hole at TPC Sawgrass\u2019 Stadium Course. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and followed that with two top-seven finishes before the Players Championship.<\/p>\n

It appeared he picked up where he had left off at the Masters but it was a different Morikawa at Augusta National.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever woken up this nervous before a first round or before any round, honestly. So I\u2019m proud of the way things kind of played out. The expectations are kind of thrown out the window right now.\u201d \u2013 Collin Morikawa<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you watch any of my swings, it\u2019s the armsy-est swings I\u2019ve ever (had),\u201d he said at the Masters. \u201cI think I\u2019m just guarding, because I never know when it\u2019s going to happen \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hurt yourself swinging, it\u2019s a completely different beast of itself because you just don\u2019t know. There\u2019s a little bit of a commitment, trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tricky part, Morikawa said, was how his back felt fine during his full swings. It was everything else that was difficult.<\/p>\n

After shooting 74 in the first round at the Masters, Morikawa acknowledged both the mental and physical challenges he faced.<\/p>\n

\"\"Morikawa struggled at times to get around Augusta National, one of golf\u2019s most physically demanding courses to walk. Logan Whitton, Courtesy Augusta National<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever woken up this nervous before a first round or before any round, honestly. So I\u2019m proud of the way things kind of played out. The expectations are kind of thrown out the window right now,\u201d Morikawa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly it\u2019s probably the toughest round I\u2019ve ever played.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morikawa said he told himself to swing at half-speed, knowing that in reality he would swing faster than that. Beyond another top-10 finish, Morikawa said he learned about himself in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of acceptance that you have to take. That\u2019s a very hard part, not just in golf. That\u2019s why this game is so great. You can feel so good about your golf game and go play 18 holes and it will frustrate the hell out of you,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s being able to accept it. It\u2019s all about accepting and moving on.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday at Augusta, Morikawa was seven strokes behind the leaders as he studied a birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole. He told his caddie, Mark Urbanek, that there was still time to do something special.<\/p>\n

At Harbour Town, which leans into precision more than power, Morikawa figures to be in the mix on the weekend. He has two top-10 finishes in six starts here and arrives feeling refreshed and renewed.<\/p>\n

Morikawa holed the birdie putt at No. 12 to start a run of five consecutive birdies, the stuff of dreams on a Masters Sunday. His name went on the leaderboard and, as the players in front of him struggled to get any separation, Morikawa was suddenly in contention \u2013 a long way from where he had been Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis blew by any expectations I had for the week. Honestly, for me it was just survive each day, wake up, do the prep I needed to do, and go and tee off on (No.) 1,\u201d Morikawa said Sunday.<\/p>\n

At Harbour Town, which leans into precision more than power, Morikawa figures to be in the mix on the weekend. He has two top-10 finishes in six starts here and arrives feeling refreshed and renewed.<\/p>\n

Having come down the stairs on the far side of the player bridge, Morikawa was reminded of how different the topography of Harbour Town is from Augusta National. One is like a mountain hike, the other like a beach walk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe walk [at Augusta] was the hardest part,\u201d Morikawa said. \u201cThis would have been a lot easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 Global Golf Post LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collin Morikawa finished T7 in the Masters despite playing with pain. Logan Whitton, Courtesy Augusta National HILTON HEAD…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[13894,5904,185484,6590,8693,183954,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-536999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-collin-morikawa","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-hilton-head","11":"tag-masters","12":"tag-pga-tour","13":"tag-rbc-heritage","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}