Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa Turns It Around, Makes the Cut at the Memorial

One week after winning at Muirfield, Morikawa is tied for 47th place

Turns out, Collin Morikawa doesn’t get the weekend off, after all.

The 23-year-old Cal grad bounced back from a rough opening round to shoot a two-under 70 on Friday and made the cut at the Memorial tournament on the Muirwood Village course at Dublin, Ohio.

Things went badly for two other former Cal golfers — Max Homa and Byeong-Hun An — who played well on Thursday. Both missed the cut.

Morikawa played a much more even-handed round Friday, with just two bogeys over 18 holes after sandwiching two doubles around a bogey in a stretch of three holes while shooting a 76 in the first round.

He had birdies on the first, seventh, 10th and 14th holes Friday and rallied to avoid missing the cut for just the second time in his 13-month-old career. Morikawa climbed from a tie for 95th after play Thursday to a tie for 47th place, although he remains 11 strokes back.

Ryan Palmer and Tony Finau share the lead at nine-under par.

Returning to the scene of his undoing on Thursday, Morikawa birdied the par-4 14th hole, where he shot a 6 the day before. Then he made par next two holes to finish 14-15-16 at one-under after going five-over on those same three holes Thursday.

Morikawa, who won on this course in the Workday Charity Open last week, bogeyed the 17th but made par on the 18th to finish at 70.

Homa, who sat in a logjam for eighth place after Thursday’s first round, shot 78 and missed the cut with a two-day score of four-over 148. He bogeyed the 17th and 18th to drop below the cut line.

Homa, the 2013 NCAA champion while at Cal, posted double-bogey 7s on two par-5 holes, dooming his chances to stay near the leaders. On Thursday he excelled on those two holes, posting a birdie on the fifth and an eagle on the 11th.

On Friday, Homa had two birdies but six holes scored a bogey or worse.

Byeong-Hun An, who spent one season at Cal, had a calamitous day and missed the cut. He had seven bogeys, two double-bogeys and just two birdies to finish at 82, a day after shooting a 71.

Some of the world’s greatest golfers struggled Friday.

Tiger Woods, making his return to the course after sitting out the first five events following the break for the COVID-19 pandemic, shot a four-over 76 and barely made the cut.

Rory Sabbatini, Bryson DeChambeau and Rickie Fowler all missed the cut.

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

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