Collin Morikawa has suffered from one of his career’s most significant setbacks at the 2026 Players Championship. The golfer has been in top form in recent weeks, and he has even secured his first win of the season at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Following that, he achieved some impressive results in tournaments, including the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Walking into the 2026 Players, Collin Morikawa was the third most popular fan choice to win the entire tournament. Despite all of this during the first round of the event, Morikawa took his name back after only finishing his first hole. The golfer began the opening round at Hole 10 and finished with an even par. However, on Hole 11, after taking the tee shot, he started having back issues, which worsened over time and eventually led to his withdrawal from the event.
Flushing It Golf reported about the incident in an X post, along with Morikawa talking about the issue. He explained,
“I felt fine in warm-up. Like, nothing’s been any signs of back problems. And teed it up on 11, and took one practice swing, and I just knew it was gone. Like I just had the feeling before when it’s happened. And I just, I can’t swing through it. Trust me, I would play if I could. It’s just the worst thing in the world.”
So far, there has been no information released about the severity of Collin Morikawa’s back injury or whether the golfer will be out for a longer period of time or only this week. Interestingly, this is not the first time Morikawa has missed a big tournament owing to back troubles; a similar situation occurred during the 2023 Memorial Tournament, 2023 Netflix Cup, and 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Collin Morikawa claimed to have had a “deja vu” before withdrawing
Talking more about the 2023 Memorial Tournament, Collin Morikawa suffered from a similar issue as he encountered the same lower back issues during a practice round before the tournament’s final day. Morikawa brought up all of his back troubles from the past during an interview, claiming that he had a deja vu moment when his back once again began to bother him at the 2026 Players Championship.
According to the same X post by Flushing It Golf, Morikawa stated,
“I’ve had this stuff before, and been healthy throughout the year, been moving weight and pushing, going fast. I don’t know, like, before I even took my practice swing, it’s like you had, like a weird, like deja vu thing. I took the practice swing and immediately knew, like, I just couldn’t get through impact. So at that point called over my trainer, and talked about it with my caddie Mark, and it just sucks. I don’t know how to put it in words.”
Collin Morikawa became the second player to withdraw from the 2026 Players Championship, following Ryan Fox, who took his name back before the event began and was eventually replaced by David Ford.
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