On Thursday Collin Morikawa used a hot start to the back nine at the Plantation Course to create a 64. On Friday, he got off to a hot start right out of the gate to stretch his lead at the Tournament of Champions.
Morikawa birdied four of his first five holes and went on to add a seven-under par 66 to that opening 64. He’s bogey-free through 36-holes at Kapalua, 16-under par, and will head into moving day with a two-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler and J.J. Spaun. Scheffler has himself in position to re-take the No. 1 spot in the world rankings after a second straight 66. Spaun, a first time winner last season at the Texas Open, shot 68 to keep pace with Scheffler.
Morikawa has others in his rear view mirror who are capable of going low over the weekend. Jordan Spieth was sitting by himself at 13-under par (67-66) and the youngster, Tom Kim, was in at 12-under after adding 69 to his opening 65.
Biggest news of the day came when sixth-ranked Xander Schauffele withdrew from the tournament. He’s been fighting a back problem and it wasn’t getting any better.
Schauffele got a talk from his caddie on the ninth hole Friday. “On nine, he’s like, ‘You know, we have a lot of tournaments coming up on the West Coast Swing, and it’s a big swing for us,'” Schauffele recounted after withdrawing. “And he’s like, ‘Are you going to look back and feel like really proud of yourself for like gutting it out and maybe hurting yourself more or should we pull out and be smart here because we have a long way to go.’ So, it kind of went like that.”
Schauffele tweaked his back at the Hero World Challenge but now regrets not getting an MRI. “I felt so great after (Hero),” he said. “I was back to full everything, routine after that. So that was probably a little immature on my part, to be completely honest. But yeah, I’m 29. I need to preserve my health. I feel like I’ve done a really good job up until this point.”
The next event Schauffele is committed to playing is The American Express in two weeks. However, that’s currently up in the air.
“I’m going to go home — I’ve never had a scan or anything, so I’m going to go home, get a scan, just try to be as smart as possible,” he responded when asked if he’ll be ready for that event.
