Collin Morikawa opened the 2026 Masters with six straight pars, then the round began to slip. He made bogey on the seventh hole, dropped another shot at the ninth and finished with a 2-over 74 on Thursday.
Morikawa said afterward that it was the toughest round he has ever played. Last month, he withdrew from THE PLAYERS Championship after one hole of his first round because of back spasms, and the effect has lingered far beyond the physical pain.
He said Thursday that his back no longer hurts, but the spasms left him with mental scars he is still trying to overcome. On Tuesday, when he started his practice round, he said he was not confident he would make contact with his tee shot. By Thursday morning, he said he woke up with more nerves than he had ever felt before a round of golf.
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The problem was not only fear of pain. Morikawa said his walking has been difficult, his legs do not feel fully under him and his swings are mostly upper body, without his normal power. He said he did not hit more than 50 range balls per day in the buildup to the first round and was well below his baseline speed when he practiced. He had played nine holes on Tuesday and Wednesday before the opening round.
There were moments when the game briefly came back. He played the 10th and 11th holes in even par with a birdie and a bogey, then birdied the 13th before giving a shot back again. But the round never fully settled, and he said he needed a solid Friday to avoid an early exit.
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Morikawa said the issue is as much in his head as in his back. “I’ve played in majors. I’ve played in other events,” he said, adding that what happened at THE PLAYERS created a trust problem and a doubt factor that can take over. “The mind is a powerful, powerful thing,” he said, noting that it can lead in the wrong direction or the right one. For now, he is still trying to find which path his own game will take.
