Collin Morikawa will continue to shine on the golf course in 2024.
At the Wells Fargo Championship, the two-time major champion shot a 4-under 67 on Thursday, putting him three shots behind leader Xander Schauffele.
Morikawa credited Quail Hollow with living up to its hype.
“It’s a golf course for adults,” says Morikawa. “The tee shot is very tough, even on the fairway at the wide end of what we’re looking at, and on new or hard greens you have to hit your spot, especially my If you’re a guy like that, score with mid to long irons.
He had to spend most of the day at work. Morikawa had only two birdies on his front nine and seven pars. His approach game was the best part of his performance, but he still averaged 1.77 putts on greens in regulation.
I made a birdie on the 10th hole and gained some momentum. He added two more birdies on Nos. 5 and 7 and finished the round with a bogey on No. 9.
“I don’t think I missed many iron shots today, which was great. I hit everything where I wanted it,” Morikawa said. “I can honestly say that I looked at a lot of my iron shots and they were quality iron shots. Even if I missed, they were all in the right place and our distance was right – I haven’t seen anything like that in a while.”
It was a season with many ups and downs for him. There were great moments and times when things didn’t go well. He had a chance to win a third major at the Masters, but Morikawa’s greed cost him Sunday.
He sits in a good position after one round on a course that challenges this rugged field. If Morikawa wants to win at Quail Hollow this week, he will have to continue to hit his long irons well.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.If you want to know more about golf, please follow us. @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
