Collin Morikawa entered the 2026 RBC Heritage already feeling scared and managing a back injury that had forced him off a course mid-round just weeks earlier. What happened at Harbour Town on the weekend gave everyone a fresh reason to worry all over again.
During the R3, Morikawa hit a shot from a bunker and fell backwards onto his back. Commentators were quick to react, saying they were a little concerned about how it was going to affect his ailing lower back, as Morikawa had already admitted he was swinging at around 50 percent.
“It’s hard to trust the body right now,” Collin Morikawa said earlier after his R1. “It’s a very uncomfortable feeling. I had never experienced anything like it until about a month ago. There’s just no trust, and that’s the hardest thing.”
In March 2026, Morikawa WD from the PLAYERS Championship after a practice swing on the 11th tee caused instant pain. As a result, he missed three weeks, including the Valero Texas Open. No matter how routine the fall looked, it was enough to set off alarms.
Despite all of it, the 29-year-old has kept scoring. He shot a four-under 67 on Thursday and a 68 on Friday, sitting at T19 at nine-under after three rounds. He described his approach this week as “dinking it around, slapping it.” Harbour Town, one of the flattest courses on the Tour, gave him the best possible setting to manage his body without fully shutting down.
“I need to last throughout the entire week,” he said.
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Augusta also told a similar story. Collin Morikawa called it a “mini-win,” finishing tied for seventh after 9-under. Before that week, he said he needed to protect his back a little bit more and had stopped pushing his limit. He was playing great golf before the injury and even won at Pebble Beach. Now, with 36 holes left and a $3.6 million first-place check available at Hilton Head, Morikawa has reason to push himself to his full capability.
“I want to be very healthy. I don’t want to be limping around and being scared of taking a golf ball out of a hole or teeing it up, and unfortunately, that’s just where I’m at right now.”
The moment was hard to miss, and for fans already watching Morikawa’s every move this week, it sparked an immediate reaction online.
Fans react to Collin Morikawa’s bunker fall as back worries spill online.
“It’s the lower back concern for me,” said one fan, zeroing in on the injury rather than the fall itself.
“Watch that back now, Colin,” warned another fan.
“When the IPAs hit on the back 9,” joked one user, cutting through the tension.
Morikawa has been dealing with lower back issues dating back to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and the 2026 Players Championship withdrawal confirmed the problem had reached a new level. After resting for 3 weeks, Morikawa returned to the Masters, still managing discomfort. At Harbour Town, he described his swing as “survival mode.”
However, the humor was juxtaposed with a serious backdrop. Morikawa has described feeling scared on the golf course, something that is genuinely rare to hear from a player ranked eighth in the world.
“If you have ever dealt with back pain, swinging through and falling backwards like that instead of tensing up is very smart,” noted one fan, offering the most grounded read of the clip.
“How did it happen? He hit it, and it rolled 30 feet past the pin. That’s how it happened,” quipped another, shifting the focus entirely to the shot result.
Morikawa’s 2026 season has become as much about managing his body as competing for trophies. Sunday at Harbour Town will add another chapter, but the bigger story plays out in the weeks that follow.
