Collin Morikawa Soars Into a Tie for 2nd Place at the Tour Championship

The Cal alum shoots 66 in the first round, but trails Scottie Scheffler's adusted score by seven strokes

Collin Morikawa / Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Collin Morikawa didn’t tear up the East Lake Golf Club as he did a year ago when he shot a 9-under 61 in opening round at the Tour Championship.

But the 27-year-old Cal grad was superb, stringing together six consecutive birdies on the back nine to card a 5-under 66 and grab a share of second place at the final leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs in Atlanta on Thursday.

Combined with his four-stroke starting point, based on his ranking in the FedEx Cup points standings, Morikawa is at minus-9 heading into Friday’s second round.

The winner in the season-ending event will take home the whopping sum of $25 million.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who began the day at 10 under after dominating the FedEx Cup standings race, remains in charge after shooting a 6-under 65 that included five birdies over the final seven holes.

He made a bogey on No. 1. But he birdied the third hole then sank a 33-foot putt to do the same on No. 7. Scheffler closed the day with birdies on 17 and 18 and has a seven-stroke lead at minus-16.

Collin Morikawa visits with an NBA reporter / Photo by NBC

Morikawa, in an interview with NBC, said he understands the gap between Scheffler and the rest of the field.

“I still know where I stand. I like looking at the leaderboards. I want to know where I’m at,” he said. “At the end of the day. I know I can never let up. There’s going to be a lot of guys on a bunched leaderboard — we’re all still kind of packed around here. It’s just going to continue like that as the week goes on. 

“Letting go of the gas is a bad thing, especially when you know you’ve got three rounds left in the season and you don’t want to leave anything out there. You just don’t want to look back and say, `Man,I could have done a little bit more.’ “

Xander Schauffele, who began the day at minus-8, is tied with Morikawa for second at minus-9 under after shooting a 70 over the par-71 layout.

Morikawa started slowly, packaging bogeys on Nos. 3 and 7 around a birdie on the sixth hole. But he was impeccable on the back nine, posting a 6-under 30 to vault himself toward the top of the leader board.

Adam Scott, Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark, Keegan Bradley and Hideki  Matsuyama are tied for fourth place at minus-8.

A year ago, Morikawa shot 15 under (without the bonus) through 36 holes before closing with rounds of 73 and 72 to finish at minus-11 and in a tie for sixth at the Tour Championship.

Meanwhile, one-time Cal player Byeong Hun An, a 32-year-old South Korean, started the day at minus-2 and shot a bogey-free 69. He had birdies on Nos. 9 and 10 and closed the first day with a 4 under score good for a tie for 20th place out of 30 golfers at the event.

An, who has five top-10 finishes this season, is playing the Tour Championship for the first time.

Defending champion Viktor Hovland is tied with An at minus-4 after a 69 that included seven birdies but also two double-bogeys.