Collin Morikawa had a good show on Friday at Shinnecock Hills; he shot a bogey-free 65, but apparently, it wasn’t without trouble. His back, which had derailed his season just three months ago, seems not to have left him yet. But Morikawa seems to have kept it under control, at least for now.

After an opening 73 left him scrambling near the cut line, Morikawa carded seven birdies and two bogeys on Friday to finally put himself 2-under after 36 holes. After his round, he opened up to reporters about how his body is holding up.

“Yeah, it’s still a little uncomfortable,” Morikawa said. “I’m hitting it a lot better. Last week was huge for me. I felt like I made progress after that. I took a little bit of time off with the baby. You know, I can’t hit every shot that I want to hit. Usually, my go-to shot with right-to-left wind with an iron would be to cut something up, know how it’s going to spin, and just play that shot. I can’t quite cut it as much as I want.”

The injury traces back to March, to a single practice swing at THE PLAYERS Championship that ended his day in the first round. He withdrew immediately, complaining of back spasms. There were no warning signs during the warmup that hinted at trouble. Later MRIs showed no structural damage, but recovery seemed like a long journey back. He missed some time and straight-up played at the Masters. Surprisingly, he still managed a tie for seventh despite playing nowhere near full strength.

What followed wasn’t really about pain anymore, but more about trusting one’s own back and strength. Morikawa said at Augusta that the back itself felt fine, that it was other parts of his body refusing to cooperate the way he wanted them to work.

He told reporters that getting hurt mid-swing carries a different weight than ordinary soreness because there’s no telling when or whether it will happen again. By his own admission, he’d never felt that nervous playing in a major, and that fear has lingered on well past the Masters and into May.

He told reporters at the PGA Championship he still wasn’t sure he trusted his own body. By the time he reached Shinnecock, he said it himself: he can’t cut it the way he wants to. Not yet.

“Thankfully, the greens are soft enough right now where I don’t have to hit the high spinner, but I’m able to hit enough shots. I think I proved it to myself today that I have enough tools to go out and play well,” he told the media.

Then, the encouraging part.

“Thankfully, I’m moving a little bit better. So the driver, I’m getting a little bit more distance out of it. I don’t feel like I have to play it too low. But I can’t hit the high bomb that I wish on some holes I could unleash.”

Progress has been slow and steady: seven birdies and no bogeys on Friday really show that. He’s not trying to overpower the course right now, just playing smart and relying on his short game instead of forcing a swing that isn’t quite there.

He opened the year by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, snapping a long victory drought, then stacked top-10 finishes at the Genesis Invitational and Arnold Palmer Invitational before the body intervened. The schedule has since been built increasingly around damage control rather than chasing trophies.

He remains, in his own words, a little uncomfortable. He proved Friday at Shinnecock that uncomfortable can still be enough to contend. Saturday will tell the rest.