Collin Morikawa took a week off after missing the cut for the first time in 23 PGA Tour events in the Travelers Championship, and came back playing as well as ever.
The 23-year-old Morikawa shot 7-under-par 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Adam Hadwin of Canada after the first round of the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
“It’s always nice to have a little time off at home with my family and my girlfriend, because it’s all business out here from Monday through Sunday,” said Morikawa, who is from La Canada Flintridge in Southern California and the University of California.
“I figured out something on the range with my coach the other day, having to do with my rotation, and went back to playing the way I was before. There are a lot of positives to take forward and hopefully keep it together for the next three days.
“This is a tough course, both off the tee and into the greens. It’s a beautiful track and it’s going to be a lot of fun this week.”
Morikawa, who won the 2019 Barracuda Championship for his first pro victory, sank a four-foot eagle putt on the fifth hole and added six birdies to take a two-shot lead before making his only bogey on the last hole.
Hadwin, who tied for fourth last week in the Rocket Mortgage Classic after failing to break into the top 40 in his first two events back after the shutdown because of the Coronavirus pandemic, birdied six of his last 10 holes while finishing his 66 on the front nine.
“It’s been building for a while,” said Hadwin, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2017 Valspar Championship. “I’m a firm believer in sort of easing myself into weeks and getting more aggressive as that goes along, as you sort of build some comfort with the golf course and with how you’re swinging and stuff.
“Even the first two weeks back, I felt like I played some pretty decent golf. I just kind of made some rusty mistakes. I’d hit a ball out of bounds or in the water where I shouldn’t have or maybe try to get too much out of a shot, whereas I think last week it kind of came together.
“I’m excited to get back out here and play, but it was nice to be home.”
Two-time major champion Zach Johnson birdied three of his last five holes to total 67 and is in a tie for third with Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, Nick Taylor of Canada and Aaron Wise of Lake Elsinore.
Fifth-ranked Justin Thomas, also coming off a missed cut in the Travelers, posted a bogey-free 68 and is in a big tie for seventh with ninth-ranked Patrick Reed, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, Ian Poulter of England, Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, Pat Perez, Tim Wilkinson of New Zealand, Peter Malnati, Adam Long and Roger Sloan of Canada.
Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State, having slipped to No. 11 and is trying to climb back into the top 10, is tied for 18th at 69, while eighth-ranked Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA shot 70 to tie for 36th, second-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain is tied for 64th and 72 and sixth-ranked Brooks Kopeka struggled to a 74 and is tied for 112th.
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