An in-control Collin Morikawa breaks Tiger’s record at East Lake

ATLANTA – A mishit in a practice round can be credited for Collin Morikawa’s record-setting performance at the TOUR Championship.

The leaderboard may say that Morikawa is tied for the lead after the opening 36 holes at East Lake, but the truth is that he’s been the best player on property. And it hasn’t been close.

His 61 on Thursday was the low score of the day by two strokes. He followed with a 64 on Friday to match the day’s best round. His 36-hole total of 125 not only is five better than anyone else in the field but also is the lowest in East Lake history, breaking Tiger Woods’ record by two. He shot 13-under 127 to open his victory in the 2007 TOUR Championship. In the 22 previous TOUR Championships at East Lake, only one other player, Xander Schauffele in 2022, has broken 130 for the first two rounds.

Morikawa has erased the nine-stroke deficit that he began the week with under the FedExCup Starting Strokes format. That put FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler at 10 under par before the first round began, with No. 2 Viktor Hovland starting two strokes back. Morikawa, who arrived at East Lake ranked 24th in the season-long standings, began at 1 under par.

Morikawa needed just two rounds to catch them, however. He’s tied for the lead at 16 under par with Hovland, who shot 68-64 in the first two rounds. Scheffler is alone in third, two shots back, after shooting 71-65. Keegan Bradley is in fourth place at 13 under par. His 36-hole total of 10-under 130 (63-67) is the second-best in the field.

“There's going to be a lot more low scores, a lot more birdies made,” Morikawa said. “I'm going to have to continue that heading into the next two days.”

If he does, he’ll be tough to catch.

Some of the TOUR’s best ballstrikers have assembled atop the leaderboard, and it’s clear why. East Lake’s Bermudagrass rough offers a steep penalty for those who stray from the fairway, making it difficult to hit approach shots close. Many of the greens are well-guarded by bunkers and perched up above the fairway. But players who drive it well are rewarded with copious birdie opportunities, especially in hot and humid weather.

When Morikawa is on, there may not be a better ballstriker on TOUR. And, after his early-week epiphany, his confidence is high.

He’s hit the most fairways (22 of 28) and greens (32 of 36) in the field. No one is hitting his approach shots closer; Morikawa’s average proximity to the hole (23’, 11”) also leads the field. He’s gained the most strokes with his approach play and is second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, an especially impressive feat considering he’s in the middle of the pack in Driving Distance. And he’s fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting.

Morikawa said this may be the best he’s felt since 2021, which coincidentally is the year he picked up his most recent victory, at The Open Championship. He won his first PGA TOUR title in his sixth start as a professional, then won four times over the following two seasons, including two majors. Going winless over the past two years has galvanized the 26-year-old after the seamless start to his pro career.

“It's been a grind, it's been a fight,” Morikawa said earlier this year. “It's been trying to figure out how to hit shots, how to get the ball in the hole. … But at the end of the day, I keep loving the game more and more. And that's awesome that even through the ups and the downs and the bad rounds and good rounds, it's like, I still want to get back out there and figure it out.”

That’s what happened Tuesday, which Morikawa thought would be a light day of practice in the searing heat of Atlanta in August. But then a poor shot in his practice round sent Morikawa to the range for two hours as he “went down the rabbit hole,” in his words. He didn’t want to elaborate on the fix but said it was a small tweak to his setup.

“The quality of the good shots are even better. But the quality of the misses are that much better,” Morikawa said.

He’s on pace for his fourth consecutive season ranked in the top three on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green. Only Scheffler ranks ahead of him this year. But Morikawa said the stats don’t tell the entire story. His trusty fade hasn’t been as reliable over the past couple years and his misses weren’t as predictable.

Not anymore. Morikawa’s machine-like ballstriking has returned.

And all it took was one little mishit.