There was a time early in Collin Morikawa’s first round of the PGA Championship when he was 11 shots behind leader Xander Schauffele. Sure, there was plenty of time remaining, but double digits always feel like a daunting proposition.
Four hours later the 2020 PGA Champion had made seven birdies to shoot 5-under 66 and sit tied for fifth place, only four shots behind Schauffele, whose 62 was a Valhalla course record and all-time low score in PGA Championship history.
Those with late afternoon tee times not only saw Schauffele set the pace, but also the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Sahith Theegala and Brooks Koepka all post great scores.
The 2020 PGA Champion is making moves.
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2024
A solid approach shot from Collin Morikawa 👏#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/DpD7QNfbSM
But Morikawa opened with bogeys on the second and fifth holes to quickly get to 2 over par. He rattled off three straight birdies twice – Nos. 6-8 and Nos. 12-14 – and closed with another on the par-5 18th hole to ends the day with only four men above him on the leaderboard.
“Obviously, I was watching coverage this morning, and you want to get off to a good start, especially how everyone is playing, and I was 2 over through five, I believe,” said Morikawa, who tied for third place last month at the Masters, but shot a final-round 74. “And just knew that, you know, everything has felt good leading up. Just kind of continue to give yourself chances, was able to hit a few close, make some putts and just kind of use that throughout the rest of the day.”
Several of Morikawa’s birdies were of the beefy variety. On the par-4 sixth hole, Morikawa hit his approach shot to 6 feet from 218 yards to produce his first red number. He got up and down from 100 yards out on the par-5 seventh hole, then hit his tee shot to 40 feet on the par-3 eight hole and drained it for three consecutive birdies.
After two pars, the 27-year-old got hot again when he made a 20-footer for birdie on the par-4 12th, made another from 18 feet on 12 and finished off the run with making a birdie from 10 feet on the par-3 14th after hitting his tee shot close from 260 yards.
The final birdie on 18 was the easiest of the day when he two-putted from outside 20 feet.
“Yeah, it's nice to roll off some birdies out here,” he said. “Obviously other guys are making a lot of birdies but knowing that you're able to just kind of get on a roll. I haven't had those little stretches of like birdie, birdie, birdie, in a long time. So just to see that, it's great for my mental side heading into the rest of the week just knowing that I can piece together a nice little bunch of golf.”
