Collin Morikawa just wanted to be 3 under par on the back nine.
He went 6 under – by way of six consecutive birdies.
That’ll work.
Morikawa shot a 5-under 66, tied for the second lowest round of the day, in the first round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club on Thursday. All of a sudden, he is tied for second on the leaderboard in the FedEx Cup playoff finale. Morikawa is 9 under, but seven strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler, who shot an opening-round 65 himself and is 16 under in the staggered scoring system. Xander Schauffele, also is 9 under.
Morikawa started the day 4 under in a five-way tie for sixth. He was 1 over for the day after the front nine.
That’s when he gave himself a pep talk.
“I told myself to start only thinking about my shot and not worrying about if the ball is going to be perfect or not. We executed some shots, made some putts.
“Look, the game is good enough to come out here and win. I’ve just got to get out of my own head. I’ve talked a lot about that. It’s hard because you try and perfect this game, and it is what it is. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, but you make doable scores. Today just got in a nice rhythm kind of around that turn.”
Morikawa started right away. He birdied hole Nos. 10-15. After pars at 16 and 17, he just missed a birdie putt on 18.
His run went like this:
No. 10 – Birdie putt of 5 feet, four inches
No. 11 – Birdie putt of 17-6
No. 12 – Birdie putt of 9-0
No. 13 - Birdie putt of 3-6
No. 14 - Birdie putt of 2-11
No. 15 - Birdie putt of 15-11
It tied the longest run of birdies in his career and set the record for consecutive birdies in Tour Championship history.
“I wish it would have started on hole one, but it’s going to be a good reminder going into the next three days that I’ve just got to see my shot and execute,” Morikawa said. “I was just thinking a little bit too much. Not that I’m trying to do too much, but there’s this nice flow and rhythm in your routine sometimes when you’re playing well, and it’s how do you find that. Sometimes it’s just barely off, but it causes some bad shots.”
Morikawa was one of five golfers to shoot 66, with Taylor Pendrith, Aaron Rai, Adam Scott and Justin Thomas.
Not that Morikawa wasn’t thrilled with his round. But it’s only the first round. There are three more to go. He finds himself one shot further back from leader Scheffler than when he started the day.
“I’m going to use that back nine to hopefully push ourselves the next three days,” Morikawa said.
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