After ending a winless drought of more than two years with a victory at Pebble Beach in February, Collin Morikawa appeared to have regained momentum. But a back injury suffered during a practice swing at The Players Championship changed the trajectory of his season again, leading to withdrawals, months of recovery, and an ongoing battle to fully trust his swing again. Now, speaking ahead of the RBC Canadian Open, Morikawa opened up about where that recovery stands today.

“Not much [practice],” Morikawa said with a laugh when asked what preparation had looked like with a newborn at home. “Which is kind of good. I left the PGA Championship uncomfortable in a way. I’ve been grinding through this kind of back injury since THE PLAYERS. It still hasn’t felt that comfortable. So it was nice to take a full reset.

“There’s still a trust factor that I’m looking for that I’m trying to find this week, going into tomorrow and into next week essentially. But it’s a lot better swing than I’ve been putting on, and that’s for me a positive thing. I’m still a little bit on edge just because I don’t want it to happen again. I’m doing the right steps to prevent it, but when it happens like that, it’s in a sense a little bit of trauma that you just kind of have to deal with,” he said.

The physical injury occurred to him at the TPC Sawgrass on March 12 at the Players Championship. Morikawa was forced to withdraw after a single hole when a sharp pain struck him on the 11th tee. He was seen grabbing his lower back after a practice swing, although he had felt nothing wrong during the warm-up. The ensuing back spasm forced further withdrawals from the Texas Open and the Truist Championship.

Despite his physical constraints, he played at the Masters through the pain, but the mental toll was just as visible as the physical one. Morikawa said his back no longer hurt by the time Augusta came around, but the spasms had left a debilitating mental scar he was still trying to work through.

In fact, the fear lingered well beyond the initial injury. Speaking at the RBC Heritage in April, Morikawa admitted he had “never been this scared in my life” to play golf, explaining that the uncertainty of whether his back might suddenly seize up again had become one of the biggest hurdles in his recovery. Even without significant pain, he found himself swinging cautiously and limiting certain shots because he did not fully trust his body.

He carded a 74 in his opening round and called it the toughest round he had ever played. But through that, he still finished the week at 9-under and a tie for 7th, just three shots behind the Grand Slam winner Rory McIlroy.

That result was part of an impressive stretch that just showed how competitive he remained despite the injury. Excluding his one-hole withdrawal at The Players, Morikawa continued piling up high finishes, including a tie for fourth at the RBC Heritage and a tie for seventh at Augusta, even while describing his recovery as a week-to-week process.

At the PGA Championship at Aronimink, his back continued to drag on his consistency. He finished T30 at one over and left the tournament, by his words, uncomfortable.

That said, his enforced break came at a very crucial turn in his personal life. Morikawa and his wife, Katherine, welcomed their first child in May. The time away from tour gave him a complete reset, but it also came with a whole new set of responsibilities.

The two-time major champion said fatherhood has already changed the way he views life and competition.

“Just a different perspective on life, I think. I’m just enjoying every day. I can stare at a camera, I can stare at my little one just non-stop and kind of forget about what else is going on,” Morikawa said.

“I think I’m a lot more positive out there and hopefully I can kind of just allow my body to relax and go out and play golf and enjoy it again.”

After back-to-back withdrawals and long months of recovery, Morikawa’s game is still in contention. He leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained approaching the green in 2026, as he averages 1.13, well clear of the rest of the field.

His return also comes at an important point on the schedule. The RBC Canadian Open serves as the final stop before next week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, giving Morikawa a chance to test both his swing and his confidence in tournament conditions before the year’s third major. The field in Toronto includes several of the PGA Tour’s biggest names, among them Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, and defending champion Ryan Fox.

Additionally, the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills just comes next week. A win here would leave him just one major short of completing the career Grand Slam.

For now, though, Morikawa’s focus appears less concerned with trophies and more with feeling fully comfortable again. As encouraging as the recent progress has been, he acknowledged there is still one final hurdle left.

“I think when the body fully is able to kind of have that last little puzzle piece of fully relaxing, I think the game’s going to be exactly how I want.”