Collin Morikawa must have scared the competition with one sentence

It missed the green.

And it bounced.

And it rolled.

And it ended 3 feet to the right of the hole.

“Toeed it a bit but ended up right where we wanted it,” Morikawa said afterwards.

How nice. And there were five birdies for the 26-year-old Californian in the first round of the Players Championship. An eagle. No bogeys. His seven under 65 trailed only Chad Ramey in the morning wave. Of course, we’ve seen excellence from Morikawa before. As he nears his fourth tour anniversary, he’s already a two-time Major winner. He is also at the fore when it comes to who gets the bat to the ball best.

But this is where it gets pretty damn creepy.

After a bit of work, Morikawa said Thursday his swing was up Now as good as ever.

“I would say this week what I found earlier this week, my swing probably hasn’t looked this good since 2019 when I first came out,” he said. “I’ve played very well, 2020, 2021, but position wise I just love where I’m at right now and just letting it all out, just allowing myself to just look up at my goal and hit the ball and hopefully it goes where I want it.

“So, yeah, I think I’m very happy with that, and that just gives me the freedom to forget about everything else and get your shot.”

With one sentence, he could have put professional golf on high alert. Let’s try to unpack this a bit. For one thing, Morikawa doesn’t lack confidence. When asked if he felt comfortable at Sawgrass, a reference to his three previous performances (cut last year; 41st in 2021; the event was canceled in 2020), he chided reporters that “people really look forward to this one.” results stand”.

In short, Morikawa believes he can hang anywhere.

“I mean, look, I don’t really take too much — I don’t take too much from the backstory,” he said. “Of course when you play well you feel comfortable, so there’s a reason you played well.

“But the courts I haven’t played well on I don’t see oh man like that court doesn’t suit my game. So I think when you look at stats like that, yeah you can look at it that way, but I haven’t had a class that I’m like, man, like I can’t play here. That’s one thing. So I wouldn’t believe that as much as a lot of people like to do.

After all, he’s also at work, and maybe then you can be a little self-confident. Think of it this way: why shouldn’t you be proud?

There have been at least some rumors since his last Open Championship win in 2021, and he revealed last November that “things never felt good” last year and that he was “just kind of looking for this game, for one Art searched normal.” But he is polished. Earlier this year, he said he’s also worked with putting coach Stephen Sweeney and short game guru Parker McLachlin. And on Wednesday he hammered long-range shots into the wind.

What does it all mean? Stay tuned of course. Golf is weird.

But if one of the world’s best informs you Now He likes swing?

It could get ugly.

“Overall the game feels really good,” Morikawa said, “and I’m just going to take that into the next few days and use that momentum to hopefully play three more really good rounds.”

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com editor

Nick Piastowski is Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf community. And when he’s not writing about how to hit the golf ball further and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach him on any of these topics – his stories, his game or his beers – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.