U.S. Open: Collin Morikawa ready for return in Los Angeles after back injury at the Memorial Tournament

Collin Morikawa is back home in Southern California and ready to return to golf after a strange and sudden back injury knocked him out two weeks ago.

Morikawa woke up Sunday in Dublin, Ohio, earlier this month in great position to close out the Memorial Tournament. He was just 2 shots off the lead after his third-round 68 and was searching for his first win since the 2021 British Open.

But as he was warming up before his final round tee time, Morikawa's lower back suddenly gave out. After trying to hit a few balls on the range, he knew he had to call it. He withdrew ahead of the final round and hasn’t competed since.

The incident that caused it was just a fluke. Morikawa said he reached down to pick something up a little too fast, and suddenly, his back lit up.

“It sucked because I felt like I was grinding for three days to put myself in contention,” he said Tuesday ahead of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. “We figured some things out Saturday afternoon. That’s when you’re excited to wake up, and you’re like, man, we can put together a few birdies early on, and you're right there tied for the lead.

“Who knows what could have happened, but it’s very unfortunate. It sucked.”

Viktor Hovland won the Memorial Tournament after beating Denny McCarthy in a playoff.

But now, after skipping last week’s RBC Canadian Open, Morikawa is back in the field at the U.S. Open and is just about at full strength. He’s mostly back to his normal routine but said he has been teeing the ball up just a little higher as a precaution.

“I think we do so much leaning with our back, bending over, that I've just built in bad movement patterns, and for me, it's being able to just make sure I bend properly from the hip, rather than putting too much stress,” Morikawa said. “It's just going to be precautionary with how I'm moving this week, but swing-wise there's no pain, which is great. I've hit out of rough, I've hit out of bunkers, no pain, nothing lingering anywhere else in the body either, so that's good.”

Morikawa has four top-10 finishes so far this season, including a runner-up finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and a T10 finish at the Masters in April. The 26-year-old is ranked No. 18 in the Official World Golf Rankings this week.

Morikawa will play the first two rounds this week alongside Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler, starting early Thursday. He's listed at +3,300 on BetMGM to win.

Morikawa has a bit of an advantage over most of the field this week, too. As a Los Angeles area native and member of the 2017 U.S. Walker Cup team, Morikawa is one of the few who has played the elusive Los Angeles Country Club before.

“It's just a big-boy golf course. It really is,” Morikawa said. “You've got to hit good shots, especially with how penal the rough is. You've got to hit it in the fairways. It's what you want for a major championship.”