Cal Golf: Rough Start for Collin Morikawa and Fellow Golden Bears at Northern Trust

Opening day of the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs did not go well for Collin Morikawa or two of his fellow Cal alums.

Morikawa, who was the regular-season FedEx Cup points leader, is in jeopardy of not making the cut at the Northern Trust at Jersey City, N.J., after shooting a three-over par 74 on Thursday to reside in a tie for 102nd place.

A total of 125 golfers were scheduled to start Thursday and the field will be trimmed to 65 (plus ties) after Friday’s second round at the Liberty National Golf Club.

Max Homa also shot a 74 and sits tied for 102 place while Brandon Hagy carded a seven-over 78 for a share of 118th place. Homa and Hagy each had two double-bogeys.

Only James Hahn, 39, who entered the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 105 in the points standings, completed Thursday unscathed. Hahn shot an even-par 71 and is tied for 52nd place.

A whopping $15 million prize will go to the winner of the Tour Championship — which completes the FedEx Cup playoffs two weeks from now — and Morikawa was positioned to make a run.

The points leaders after the Northern Trust and the BMW Championships a week from now earned strokes they will take into the Tour Championship. First place in the points standings gives a golfer a 10-under score to start in Atlanta, second place is worth eight strokes, and so on.

But Morikawa will sink out from among the leaders if he cannot rebound Friday and climb into the top-65. Second-seeded Jordan Spieth was barely better Thursday, shooting a one-over 72.

Coming off a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, the reigning British Open champ had bogeys on Nos. 1, 5, 8, 10 and 15 on Thursday, while making birdies just Nos. 6 and 13.

Homa had three birdies, but double-bogeyed the eighth and 18th holes to go with a pair of bogeys.

Hagy had six bogeys and two doubles, including also on the 18th. He had three birdies.

Hahn made birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 16 to finish strong and climb one stroke above the current cut line.

The first-round co-leaders are 2017 FedEx Cup champ Justin Thomas and top-ranked Jon Rahm, both are 63. Morikawa and Homa are nine strokes behind those two.

Thomas had shelved his regular putter after an uneven year on the greens. But during his junior event last week, a teenager asked why he wasn't still using his old putter.

"And I found myself defending myself to this 15-year-old," Thomas told ESPN. "I was like, 'Why am I not using this thing?' It's not like I'm making a lot of putts with what I have. If you're putting well, any of us can go out and putt with anything."

Thomas made nine birdies on the way to his first-round 63.

Cover photo of Sebastian Munoz by Mark Konezny, USA Today

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