Collin Morikawa has done incredibly well at The Masters so far this week, given the problem he has with his back right now.
Morikawa began the 2026 in superb form, recording a win and two top-seven finishes in five events before disaster struck just four weeks before The Masters.
The two-time major winner injured his back after just one hole of The Players Championship last month.
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Morikawa’s withdrawal from The Players just four weeks before The Masters was extremely unfortunate for him.
He would have seriously fancied his chances at Augusta National this year, such has been the quality of his golf.
The back injury sustained by Morikawa came at the worst possible time.
However, it seems like he now has an even bigger issue to deal with.
Why Collin Morikawa’s comments at The Masters are so worrying
Morikawa deserves huge credit for fighting so hard at The Masters despite his back problems.
He has spoken to reporters after every round he has played this week and opened up on how much fear he has standing over the ball.
On Saturday, he said: “Yeah, yeah. I’m over the moon right now, and I know I have one more day. I have 18 more holes to keep fighting. It’s not going to be easy. I mean, each day I wake up, it’s not easy to keep doing it.
“But, you know, I love it, and very grateful that we get to do this. But, yeah, I think the position I’m at right now, at the beginning of the week, Monday, Tuesday, even Wednesday. I’m pretty thrilled with how I’m playing.“
He responded when asked about how comfortable he is swinging the golf club out on the course.
“Slight comfort, but not enough for me to change how I’m swinging,“ he said.
“There’s just too much risk to test it. As much as I wanted to, you know, especially Monday and then by Tuesday kind of after I finished playing, I realized that, like, nothing was going to change.
“I’m hoping that it does, but even if I woke up feeling 100% tomorrow, it would still be hard for me to just go out all out and swing. It’s just something I had to monitor this week, and we’ll figure it out after tomorrow.“
He then opened up about how difficult it is for him to hit shots from downhill lies.
“It’s impossible,“ Morikawa admitted.
“When I get to hole nine, hole ten, hole 11, downhill lies are near impossible because I don’t want to fire into my left side. I’m just trying to hit middle of the green, walk away with two-putt pars, and I’ve done a decent job with that.
You just never know, right? That’s the hard thing right now is just going out and just taking it one shot at a time, sticking within my comfort zone, and right now, like I said yesterday, it’s like it’s in that 50% swing range with a lot of arms.“
It goes without saying that Morikawa’s fear of swinging at full speed due to his back is a big concern.
Collin Morikawa has to overcome mental struggles
Here’s the thing: it sounds like Morikawa has more of a psychological problem rather than a physical one.
Morikawa’s back is either good to go or it isn’t.
If he isn’t fully fit, he could be making his back issues much worse by playing at Augusta National this week.
However, if his back problem has fully cleared up, then the fact that he is scared to hit the ball should be a serious concern for him and his fans.
Considering his comments, it’s a miracle that the 29-year-old is five-under par through 54 holes at Augusta National this week.
However, the fear he has about hitting the golf ball right now will be a big worry for him moving forward.
Psychological problems in golf have a funny habit of refusing to go away.
What’s to say he will feel any different at the next tournament he plays?
For Morikawa’s sake, I really hope he overcomes whatever mental issues he has with his back as soon as possible because, if he doesn’t, it could seriously hold him back.
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