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California's Collin Morikawa shoots a 3-under 69 in Safeway Open, Misses Cut by Two
15 Oct 2016
by AmateurGolf.com Staff

see also: Collin Morikawa Rankings

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Collin Morikawa <br>(California Athletics Photo)
Collin Morikawa
(California Athletics Photo)

NAPA, CA (October 15, 2016) -- What a back nine for California sophomore Colin Morikawa. After falling to 3- over following a 1-over front nine in the second round of the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa Morikawa turned things around in a big way.

Playing in his second career PGA Tour round, Morikawa parred Nos. 10 and 11 before rolling in a birdie on the 12th to spark his late run. Birdies followed on No's. 15 and 16 to move the second-ranked player in the AmateurGolf.com World Ranking back to even-par. After a par on the 17th, Morikawa capped his round in style with a closing hole birdie that brought his 36-hole tally to 1-under. When all was said and done it was a bogey- free 4-under 31 inward nine for the Cal star. Unfortunately his heroic back-nine effort fell just two shots out the cut-line which 3-under par.

In the first two rounds of the Safeway Open Morikawa clearly enjoyed his time on the backside. For the two days he was a combined 6-under with eight birdies and a double-bogey. On the flip side the front nine was played in 5-over.

The beginning of the second round was delayed due to inclement weather and Morikawa's tee time was delayed by nearly three hours. As a result the second round was suspended due to darkness and the resumed at 7:45 a.m. Saturday morning. With the second round now in the books the cut finished at 3-under.

ROUND ONE RECAP

On Thursday Collin Morikawa more than held his own in his PGA Tour debut at Safeway Open. The California sophomore carded a solid 2-over 74 in his first round at Silverado Resort, a round that included six birdies.

Beginning on the 10th hole, Morikawa bogeyed the 11th hole before catching fire down the stretch of his opening nine. Following a pair of pars that settled Morikawa down, the second-ranked player in the AmateurGolf.com World Rankings birdied four holes from Nos. 14-18 to turn in 2-under 34.

Unfortunately things got a bit more difficult for Morikawa on his second nine and he closed in 4-over 40. However, despite the struggles Morikawa was able to card two birdies on the way in to salvage his round a bit. The birdies came on the 5th and 9th holes.

Morikawa started his freshman year at Berkeley last fall and quickly made a statement, shooting a course-record 62 at Lake Merced Golf Club to dominate the team's first qualifier. He would go on to earn All-American honors and the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.

This past summer, Morikawa took home the Sunnehanna Amateur with a final-round 62, made it to the round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur, and nearly won the Web.com Air Capital Classic after shooting back-to- back rounds of 63 over the weekend and losing in a playoff.

Morikawa is currently tied for 120th and will begin his second round at Silverado Resort and Spa at 9:10 a.m. PST paired alongside Kelly Kraft and Brandon Hagy.

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