Collin Morikawa trying to play through back injury at The Masters: 'I'm taking it day by day'

Collin Morikawa is going to give it a shot this week at Augusta National. Morikawa arrived at the course on Monday ahead of the Masters and practiced amid a lingering back injury that has kept him off the PGA Tour for weeks now. He withdrew from the Valero Texas Open last week because of it, and had to pull out of The Players Championship last month after just a single hole due to back spasms.

“The honest truth is I’m taking it day by day,” Morikawa said. “It’s not exactly where I want to be, and it’s unfortunate, but that’s just the body, and I can’t push it. “It’s been a little bit of a mental battle, I think, just trying to trust where it’s at.

The back actually feels fine, it’s just other parts of the body not cooperating a little bit how I want. ” Morikawa lasted just a single hole at The Players Championship last month, and ended up withdrawing after a practice swing left him clutching at his lower back. He was going to try and make it back for last week’s Tour stop in San Antonio, but Morikawa decided to withdraw in an effort to preserve his back for the Masters.

Morikawa revealed Monday that he’s undergone MRIs and has “gotten things done” on his back, and that it’s "nothing worse than what it's been. ” The injury, though, is something Morikawa admittedly has never experienced before in his career. “When you hurt yourself swinging, it’s a completely different beast of itself because you just don’t know,” Morikawa said.