Collin Morikawa

The Los Angeles native will get some home-cooking comfort this week, "Stayed at my parents' house on Saturday night. Every time I come back to LA, it's my favorite spot in the world. It's always going to be home for me no matter where I live, no matter where I move to." There were questions regarding his recent injury and he answered them with positive news, "There's no pain swinging right now, which is great. I might be teeing up kind of weirdly this week, so don't take too much into that, but it's just precautionary." Morikawa arrives with two wins on his major championship resume. He could pick off the third leg of a career grand slam if he won this week. He's posted top 5s in each of his last two tries at the U.S. Open. 

This is a tough blow for Morikawa who was T9 on the leaderboard in what is a wide-open leaderboard at Muirfield Village. He was just two shots off the pacesetters with 18 holes remaining. Gamers should take note of this injury but also be aware that it's his first mid-tourney WD in 91 career starts. 

The Cal-Berkeley products both have some experience at TPC Louisiana but this will be their first time playing it together. "I've gotten to know Collin since he was in college and always really respected how he went about his business. Obviously appreciate the way he plays golf, and to get to partner with him and get to compete with him and make some birdies will be fun, but I also think we make a very good team, and I'm looking forward to getting going on Thursday." Homa has always seen huge potential in Morikawa and now they get the pleasure of doing damage together on the course. They've opened as 8/1 outright betting options this week, second behind only the defending champs, Patrick Cantlay & Xander Schauffele.

Morikawa is making his third start at THE PLAYERS and arrived with a T41 and missed cut in his first two tries. "It's a course you really can't get away with anything. You have to hit it well off the tee. Obviously you have to hit some good approach shots. But if you're hitting it well off the tee, you're going to give yourself some birdie opportunities." He certainly struck it well, ranking 3rd in strokes gained off-the-tee and 1st in approach play. This will be the third time in his last six starts that he's posted T5 or better after round one.