Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Feeling Healthy Again, Set to Take on the BMW Championship

Pain-free again after injuring his back last month at the Tokyo Olympics and having corrected the compensatory tweaks to his swing, Collin Morikawa is ready this week at the BMW Championship at Owings Mills, Maryland.

The 24-year-old Cal grad entered The Northern Trust last week sitting atop the FedEx Cup leader board and ready to chase the $15 million prize that will go to the winner of next week’s Tour Championship.

But Morikawa struggled through two days and missed the cut for just the second time in his past 20 outings.

Now, after a long weekend to sort things out, Morikawa declared himself fit for the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

“My swing is I clear my hips, turn, hold onto the face and hit a cut, and I was going away from that so much that I just got so stuck in a position that I couldn’t rotate,” Morikawa told the Golf Channel. “Did a bunch of work (Monday) and started slowly building the patterns back to where I normally have it. It feels good to swing like I normally do.

“I was pain-free last week, pain-free now, just about stretching the muscles into that pattern that I’m used to.”

Morikawa slipped from first to sixth in the FedEx Cup standings, but he already has clinched a spot in the Tour Championship field.

A top-10 finisher eight times on the tour this season and winner of the British Open last month, Morikawa is rated as a 20-to-1 shot to win this week. He tees off at the Caves Valley Golf Club on Thursday at 10:43 a.m. PT.

Fellow Cal grad Max Homa, given 125-to-1 odds, tees off at 8:33 a.m.

Jon Rahm is the big favorite at 6-to-1, with Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas both at 18-to-1, defending FedEx Cup champ Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau at 20-to-1 and Northern Trust winner Tony Finau and Louis Oosthuizen rated at 22-to-1.

Morikawa explained his troubles last week were more the result of changes he made in his swing to compensate for his back issues than the back pain itself. He labeled the altered shots “these slap draws,” and said he hadn’t hit shots like that since high school, a decade ago.

“But that was my only way to survive and not make it worse,” he said.

While adjusting his approach due to the back injury he suffered in the first round of the Olympic tournament, Morikawa said he pinched a nerve two weeks ago at the WGC-FedEx Invitational, where he tied for 26th.

By last week, he felt he’d fouled up his swing enough that he couldn’t control his shots the way he’s used to.

Now, with his recent bad habits hopefully in the rear-view mirror, Morikawa is ready to hit the re-set button. The BMW Championship carries a $9.5 million total purse and will set up golfers for their seedings headed into the Tour Championship.

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Joe Rondone, The Commercial Appeal via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo