Cal Golf: Defending Champ Collin Morikawa in the Mix After First-Round 70 at PGA

Morikawa is three strokes back, part of an eight-way tie for eighth place.
Cal Golf: Defending Champ Collin Morikawa in the Mix After First-Round 70 at PGA
Cal Golf: Defending Champ Collin Morikawa in the Mix After First-Round 70 at PGA /

Defending champion Collin Morikawa flirted with the lead most of the day during Thursday’s first round of the 103rd PGA Championship before Canadian Corey Conners took charge with a strong finish.

Morikawa enters Friday’s second round as part of an eight-way tie for eighth place at two under 70. Phil Mickelson also is part of that logjam.

They trail by one stroke a group of six players, including Brooks Koepka, who are tied for second place at minus-3.

Separating himself from that tangle was Conners, 29, who had scored top-10 finishes at the past two Masters. He shot 33 over the final nine holes and has a two-stroke margin over the pack after finishing at 67.

Conners, addressing the challenging conditions including high winds, said, "I'd say it's impossible to be stress-free around this golf course. You can't fall asleep out there on any holes. It's very challenging. I was fortunate to have a good day. Made it as least stressful as possible on myself."

Morikawa birdied his second-to-last hole, the eighth, to briefly move into a tie for the top spot. The 24-year-old Cal grad missed a four-foot putt on No. 9 to bogey the hole and wind up at 70.

Morikawa, who won the PGA last summer at Harding Park in San Francisco for his first career major triumph, had five birdies and three bogeys in the first round on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

There are 29 golfers within two strokes of one another behind Conners.

Three other former Cal golfers were in the field that included 99 of the top-100 players in the world:

— Max Homa was among the leaders at two under through 11 holes when disaster struck. He shot seven-over par over the final seven holes, including a quadruple-bogey on the 17th hole, skidding to a six-over 78 and a tie for 127th.

— Byeong Hun-An is past of a 22-way tie for 41st place at one-over 73 after a steady round that included 15 pars, two birdie and two bogeys.

— Brandon Hagy will struggle to make the cut Friday after a bogey and double-bogey on his final two roles left him with a five-over 77 and tied with 16 others for 17th place.

Pre-tournament favorite Rory McIlroy had six bogeys on the way to shooting a 75, leaving him in a tie for 78th place. World No. 1 Justin Thomas also had a 75 while Jordan Speith, one of the season’s hottest golfers, finds himself in a tie for 41st place after a first-round 75.

Morikawa, already a four-time winner on the PGA tour, hadn’t played since April while preparing for this week. Ranked No. 6 in the world, he has four top-10 finishes this season.

Homa, 30, the 2013 NCAA champ while at Cal, had eight pars, two birdies and just one bogey over the first 11 holes on Thursday. Then he unraveled, with three bogeys and the quad seven on the par-3 17th that dropped him 100 spots in the standings over the span of seven holes.

Homa is in the midst of his best season, with a win at the Genesis Invitational among four top-10 finishes, giving him a No. 39 world ranking. This is his seventh major and he has missed the cut in five of the previous six, surviving only at the 2019 PGA, where he tied for 64th place.

Hun-An, 29, made par on each of his first nine holes Thursday, an encouraging start here after missing the cut in six of the past seven events he entered. The youngest player ever to win the U.S. Amateur, at age 17 in 2009, Hun-An played just one season at Cal before turning pro in 2011.

He tied for eighth at the American Express event this season but still us looking for his first career victory on the PGA tour. He has won three times on the European circuit. He finished in a tie for 22nd at the 2020 PGA, thanks to a final-round 64.

Hagy, 30, landed a spot in this weekend’s field as first alternate after 38-year-old Italian Francesco Molinari, the 2018 British Open champion, withdrew on Thursday morning. This is Hagy’s first shot at the PGA, just his second major (missed the cut at the 2015 U.S. Open).

Hagy turned pro out of Cal in 2014 and hasn’t won on the PGA tour in his first 87 events. Finishing up his opening round on the back nine, he had birdies on Nos. 6 and 7 to move to two-over and a tie for 46th place, but his bogey on No. 8 and a double-bogey six on No. 9 dropped him 50 spots.

Cover photo of Collin Morikawa by Geoff Burke, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo


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Jeff Faraudo
JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics.