Collin Morikawa WDs from Round 4 of the Memorial Open
Collin Morikawa withdrew from the Memorial Tournament due to a back injury, as reported by the player himself from the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, home of the event. The injury occurred while he was warming up, so he could not even start his participation in the fourth and final round.
When questioned by the press about his situation, Collin Morikawa explained that he felt as if the muscles in his back "gave out".
“Muscle in the back, lower back, just kind of gave out," said Morikawa. "We were doing some like reflex stuff, trying to reach down and try to pick something up like quick and low. Went after it weird. Literally have never had this in my life. I've hurt may back briefly before, but like nothing has been this bad, especially never warming up, never doing anything pre-round. It su*ks.”
This one really hurts.
Collin Morikawa has withdrawn due to back spasms in R4. Ouch. #TheMemorial
Collin Morikawa described the injury as a "spasm".
“I mean I crashed to the ground, just random spasm,” Morikawa said. “Like it wasn't lingering, it wasn't going through my body. It was just a spasm in my back. Literally tried to hit 10 balls, hit my 9-iron, chunked 9-iron about 95 yards, so I don't think that's playing out here at Muirfield Village.”
This is not the first back injury suffered by Morikawa in his professional career. During the Tokyo Olympics, Morikawa suffered from back pain, although it did not prevent him from playing until he was defeated in the bronze medal discussion. However, his difficulties extended after the end of his participation.
He was also affected during the FedEx Cup Playoffs of the same year, which were played weeks after the Olympic Games.
Collin Morikawa is the third player to withdraw from this edition of the Memorial Tournament. Brendan Todd had to do so after playing 12 holes of the second round, while Dylan Frittelli could only complete 14 holes on the first day.
Collin Morikawa at the 2023 Memorial Tournament
Collin Morikawa was having an excellent performance at the Memorial Tournament up until the time of his injury. He had closed the third round with an overall score of -4. He was T3, tied with four other players and only two strokes behind leaders Rory McIlroy, Si Woo Kim and David Lipsky.
The first two rounds were not as good as he would have hoped, closing even par. This was due to a shaky performance, with seven birdies and as many bogeys, plus an eagle and a double bogey.
But his third round was much closer to the quality of a player who has won five PGA Tour tournaments (two majors) in four years. On Saturday he carded a four-under 68 that brought him remarkably close to title contention, which, unfortunately, will no longer happen.
Now Morikawa will have to face an expeditious recovery process to be able to participate in the U.S. Open, the third major of the season, which starts in less than two weeks.