Morikawa Jumps Out to First Round Lead at Workday Charity Open

By Dave Shields

Collin Morikawa grabbed the first-round lead at the Workday Charity Open Thursday at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, with a 7-under round of 65.

Morikawa had a perfect round going until the final hole when he put his second shot on the 476-yard par-4 in the greenside bunker. He wound up with a bogey 4 to drop to 7-under.

Morikawa holds a one-shot lead over Canadian Adam Hadwin, who carded a 6-under 66. What was the key to his round?

“Just hitting good shots, quality shots to the right side of the hole, giving myself looks,” Hadwin said after the round. “I hit some really good iron shots there starting on 18 kind of through four and five, and then made a couple of good putts there, on seven and nine to finish the round.”

It was a great day for the nation of Canada as another Canuck, Nick Taylor, finished tied for third with a 5-under round of 65. It was his first tournament since before the pandemic halted play, but you wouldn’t know that by his play.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations,” Taylor said after the round. “I’ve played a lot of golf the last month, month and a half, so I felt ready in the sense of playing, in that playing mode.”

Hideki Matsuyama, Zach Johnson, and Aaron Wise were all tied with Taylor at 6-under.

Lurking just three shots back is world No. 5 Justin Thomas, who shot a 4-under round of 68. There are 11 golfers at 4-under, including Patrick Reed, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, and Graeme McDowell.

This is a new event, scheduled to replace the John Deere Classic, but it’s played at Muirfield Village, home of next week’s Memorial Tournament. Last year’s winner of the Memorial, Patrick Cantlay, was 2-under.

Two top 10 players, Justin Rose and Brooks Koepka, had days they’d rather forget. They finished well back, carding 2-over rounds of 74. They’ll both need big days tomorrow to make it to the weekend.

Some Info Taken From The National Post