Collin Morikawa's struggles on the greens continue: 'No confidence today'

NBC Sports

2 days ago

Collin Morikawa isn't just searching for a new caddie.
He's trying to find his putting stroke, too.
Morikawa shot 3-under 69 Thursday to open the Rocket Classic. He was six shots off Min Woo Lee's early lead, having missed only three greens and scrambling perfectly on those few occasions. But he also made just over 42 feet of putts while losing over four and a half strokes to the field on the greens (that stat will obviously change over the course of the afternoon, though once all 156 competitors had logged at least a hole, it ranked Morikawa last in the field).
'I hit it good enough to play well, putted like a blind man, honestly,' Morikawa said. 'It's just an uncomfortable feeling shoving everything and not being able to square up the face. It's tough. … You've got a lot of poa growing in, you have to just be confident with your stroke, and there was just no confidence today after seeing a couple miss.'
Morikawa put an Olson Tour Matrix 1.0 Round putter in the bag ahead of last week's Travelers Championship, replacing the TaylorMade TP Soto he was previously using. He went on to finish 45th out of 72 players in strokes gained putting, and despite leading the field off the tee, he tied for 42nd in the tournament. He entered this week ranked No. 109 in strokes gained putting for the year.
In Thursday's first round at Detroit Golf Club, Morikawa converted just one putt from outside 5 feet – a birdie putt from 6 feet, 3 inches at the par-3 fifth. He also missed eight putts inside 12 feet, including a 3-footer at the par-4 second.
Morikawa blamed mostly his stroke and not his reads.
'Today was just, you know, nothing starting online, and that's tough when your speed's a little bit off, not starting online,' Morikawa explained. 'You're just essentially wishing, and not ideal for a course like this where you've got to take it low. … I feel like I'm reading 'em fine, it's just whether I can actually start it and have it with decent speed.'
Asked if he planned to trying something else on Friday, Morikawa responded, 'Yeah, very highly likely for tomorrow.'
It wasn't all frustrating, though. Morikawa, who has former Cal teammate K.K. Limbhasut on the bag this week after splitting with caddie Joe Greiner, gained around three shots on approach, boosted by his near albatross at the par-5 17th, where he flagged his second shot from 276 yards out to 3 inches.
'I've never made a 2 on a par 5,' Morikawa said. 'Sucks, but I'll take 3 any day there.'