Latest news with #SG:Approach
USA Today
7 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Collin Morikawa is crazy like a fox at the Memorial, where he says he 'loves the place'
Collin Morikawa is crazy like a fox at the Memorial, where he says he 'loves the place' DUBLIN, Ohio – Collin Morikawa always has been crazy about Muirfield Village Golf Club. 'This is probably the only golf course where I've stepped foot on it before I actually played and said, like, I love this place, no matter how I play, and it's kind of rare to find that,' he said. Morikawa won here at the 2020 Workday Charity Open and has twice finished second at the Memorial, including last year. On Thursday, he birdied three holes in a four-hole stretch on the front nine and made six birdies in all en route to posting 5-under 67 in the first round, two off the pace set by Ben Griffin. 'I woke up today kind of not knowing how the swing was going to produce. I spent a couple hours on the range after the pro-am yesterday and was just trying to find something,' he explained. 'Yeah, kind of went to some old swing thoughts, and it's hard to filter through that, but did it on the range, and kind of was just able to go play golf. I got to trust myself that I'm playing good enough golf to go out there and win and that's what I did today.' Asked if it was the same swing thought as a week ago, Morikawa shook his head from side to side. 'No, it's more of a swing thought that I had around Bay Hill. Shocker that I didn't stick with it,' he said of the site of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he finished second in March. 'Like I said yesterday, we're crazy. We think one thing's good, so then you just go away from that and try something new. But it's just, honestly it's just posture and making sure my posture's really good from the ground up and allowing my body to just go from there and swing it.' Whatever the case, it worked. Morikawa topped the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and ranked second in SG: Approach. He birdied both par 5s on the front nine at Nos. 5 and 7 and laced a mid-iron at the downhill, 214-yard par-3 8th to inside 5 feet. On the backside, he drilled a 22-foot birdie putt at No. 10 and sandwiched birdies at Nos. 14 and 16 around his lone bogey of the day, taking three putts from 57 feet. Still, it was a crazy good start, his third-lowest score in 18 career rounds at Jack's Place. By Morikawa's own estimation, he's just flat out crazy, and it didn't take his new caddie, Joe Greiner, long to reach the same conclusion. 'He's already called me crazy a lot. And that's fine. Like, I think golfers are generally crazy. I know I am. I mean, you give me eight weeks off this off-season, you should hear about the amount of things I tried. Just, I mean I had seven different grips, different wraps on my grips, like I was going through it all,' Morikawa said. 'You just give me a little too much time and I just go down rabbit holes.' The 28-year-old Morikawa's game has been better than most. He is ranked fourth in the world but the six-time Tour winner is winless since October 2023. So, the search to get across the finish line continues. 'I'm in a weird spot right now. I feel like I'm really close, but yet sometimes you don't know what you're searching for. I know it's something small and that's the click that I need to just play free,' he said. 'But it's hard to find that.' Could Morikawa end his winless drought at the Memorial this week? Nothing crazy about that at all.
USA Today
15-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Jordan Spieth and Max Homa among the notables to miss the cut at Genesis Invitational
Jordan Spieth and Max Homa among the notables to miss the cut at Genesis Invitational LA JOLLA, Calif. – Not everyone came up roses on Valentine's Day at the 2025 Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Eighteen players were sent packing on Friday, with the cut coming at 4-over 148. While most of the signature events are of the no-cut variety, the three player-hosted signature events — the Genesis Invitational (Tiger Woods), Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament (Jack Nicklaus) — feature a 36-hole cut to the top 50 and ties plus any player within 10 shots of the lead. The two highest cuts this season have both come at Torrey (1-over 145 at the Farmers Insurance Open). Let's take a closer look at some of the notable names in the 72-man field who were not in love with trunk slamming and went home empty-handed. Notable names to miss the cut at the Genesis Invitational Sungjae Im Im missed his second cut of the season and just his third since the U.S. Open in June. He ranked 67th in the field this week in Strokes Gained: Approach, which contributed to rounds of 74-75. Justin Rose Rose, a former champion at Torrey Pines, shot 75-74. He ranked dead last in the field in SG: Approach, losing more than four strokes. Rose also missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open here last month. Billy Horschel Horschel shot 75-74 to miss his second straight cut and third of the young season. Horschel ranked fourth in SG: Approach on Thursday but 65th in SG: Putting. On Friday, he was four-of-eight in scrambling and put himself behind the 8-ball by hitting just five of 14 fairways. Viktor Hovland Hovland is still searching for his 'A game' — or even his 'B game.' Hovland withdrew from the WM Phoenix Open last week to work on his game and changed his putter this week but it didn't pan out for the Norwegian. He shot 73-76. Blame the short game. Hovland was four for 13 in scrambling. Cameron Young Young dug himself a big hole with 78 in the first round and his even-par 72 wasn't enough to earn himself a weekend tee time. He found just four fairways on Thursday. On Friday, he was dead last in proximity to the hole. Jordan Spieth One week after Spieth had his best result in the last year at the WM Phoenix Open, he was sent packing after rounds of 76-74. The problem was his iron game. He ranked 68th in SG: Approach and 69th in proximity to the hole. Max Homa Homa, a former champ at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open, continued to struggle. He missed his second straight cut and hasn't recorded a top-25 finish in five starts. He found just three fairways on Thursday. His approach game was off on Friday. To make matters worse, he succeeded in scrambling on just six of 15 attempts. Sepp Straka Straka, ranked second in the FedEx Cup, missed his first cut since the 2024 RSM Classic in November. He ranked dead last in the field in SG: Tee to Green through 36 holes. Straka has been on a heater, including his win at the American Express, but this week he cooled off.
