Collin Morikawa, seemingly out of nowhere, looks back to his best.
The two-time major winner won his first event since 2023 at Pebble Beach last week, rising above the field in tricky conditions on Sunday. He then followed it up with a three-under opening round to leave him three shots back of the lead at the Genesis Invitational.
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And he had to battle the elements once again during Thursday’s play. The rain was so severe that it caused a delay during his opening round, and then the wind picked up on Morikawa’s back nine. It’s really incredible that the American has re-found his swing in conditions like these.
Especially when Riviera was playing completely uniquely on Thursday. In fact, the weather this week has caused the course to play in a way Morikawa has never seen in golf.
Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Collin Morikawa says he’s ‘never seen’ greens like this week at Riviera
Usually, when greens give golfers trouble, it’s because they are really firm, causing balls to bounce off the back of them. When they’re soft, balls sit near where they land, making the greens easier targets. We saw that at the Ryder Cup.
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But Riviera is causing a unique challenge this week. The rain during the week has made the greens incredibly soft, but they are in such great condition that they are still lightning quick. That has caused shots to rip back on the greens and roll for miles.
That’s something that Morikawa has never seen. He said after his opening round, “Yeah, I honestly don’t know how they got it to this. Like I’ve never seen greens like this.
“I mean, you could stop any club from anyplace on, you know, from the rough, flyer lies. Like, I mean, I think I had two or three shots today, flyers out of the first cut and rough, and like I’m not worried about missing the green at all.
“It’s just purely hit and hope. And then, I mean, you saw Rory’s shot on 18, like it’s just unfair, not the right word, you just have to really take those 30-footers and go out and make some birdies somewhere else.”
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On a number of occasions, players hit the green only to see their ball rip back and roll off. To find joy out there, you have to send your ball past the pin and hope it rolls back to pin high, which is what has made the conditions so difficult for players.
Rory McIlroy found the greens at Riviera ‘so difficult’
Morikawa wasn’t the only player to be challenged by these greens. Rory McIlroy, who is one shot back of the lead, said he found the conditions “so difficult”.
Speaking after his opening round, McIlroy said, “It’s like they’re soft but they’re fast, I think that’s the hard thing. It’s like last week at Pebble, they were soft, but they were slow because they’re worried about the wind. Here, they’re so fast. The ball, like it just starts to get away from you a little bit, especially if it spins back.
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“It’s just taking more club and taking spin off it. I’m hitting a lot of just little chippy 7-irons and 8-irons. And even that 9-iron at the last I hit, it was 186, I hit a full-blooded 9-iron thinking that, you know, 25 miles an hour downwind, it’s not going to come back too much and, you know, it came back 30 feet.
“I think it’s a combination of how soft they are, but also how fast they are as well. And a lot of the greens here are pitched quite severely from back to front, so it’s difficult.”
The wind and the rain should lessen as the week goes on, but the greens won’t get much firmer. Whoever learns to master them will likely come out the winner come Sunday.
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