PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Collin Morikawa withdrew from The Gamers Championship early Thursday morning with a decrease again damage.
The 2-time main winner and this season’s Pebble Seashore Professional-Am winner had solely performed one gap within the opening spherical earlier than taking a full-speed observe swing on the eleventh tee and falling again.
“I felt good within the warm-up. There have been no indicators of any decrease again issues,” Morikawa stated. “Then I teed it up on the eleventh gap, took one observe swing, and I knew it was healed.” “Like I felt earlier than when one thing like this occurred. And I am unable to recover from it. Belief me, I would play if I may. That is simply the worst factor on the earth.”
Morikawa, who was one of many favorites to win this week’s TPC Sawgrass, reached for his again and grimaced earlier than calling for his coach. He took a while to evaluate his situation earlier than being dragged off the golf course and formally withdrawing from the match.
Morikawa additionally had points on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2023 Tokyo Olympics, and was compelled to withdraw from that 12 months’s Memorial Event.
Earlier this week, Morikawa talked about how specializing in his physique within the offseason has helped solidify his latest play.
“To be trustworthy, I went into this 12 months with a whole lot of confidence,” Morikawa stated. “I put a whole lot of effort into my physique simply to get stronger and fitter and stronger and more healthy general.”
The 29-year-old Morikawa, who leads the FedEx Cup early on, was in his greatest kind in recent times with three top-10 finishes this season. Apart from his win at Pebble Seashore earlier this 12 months, he completed fifth ultimately week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
