Collin Morikawa withdraws from Truist Championship amid ongoing back concerns

Collin Morikawa has withdrawn from this week’s Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club, the PGA Tour confirmed on Monday.

No reason was formally provided for the withdrawal — none is required ahead of tournament play — though Morikawa has been managing a lingering back issue that previously forced him out of The Players Championship in March after completing just one hole of the opening round.

It is believed Morikawa has chosen to take this week off in order to give his back an extra week's rest ahead of the PGA Championship at Aronimink, which gets underway next week. 

The 29-year-old American has continued to compete intermittently through discomfort this season, including a scheduled withdrawal from the Valero Texas Open to allow additional recovery time. 

Despite the setback, Morikawa returned to finish a respectable tied seventh at The Masters in April and followed that with an even better tied fourth at the RBC Heritage, both achieved while swinging at less than full capacity. 

The two-time major champion has already recorded five top-10 finishes in the current campaign, despite notable back issues. 

Speaking after the RBC Heritage three weeks ago, Morikawa acknowledged the ongoing challenge of playing through injury:

“It’s not really the place to be testing, middle of a tournament, or any day out here for me, especially with where I’m at," said the current world number six.

"But when I’m at home next week, I’ll be able to see how comfortable can I really get, and hopefully we can just get back to normal in a short period of time. It’s been a grind. The two weeks of golf have felt like a full year of golf, just grinding through it, playing.

"But it was nice; I think I learned a lot about myself. Mentally I was pretty strong throughout the last two weeks. There’s something to take from not having the full health of being able to swing a club but kind of working with what you have."

Morikawa’s most recent outing came at last week’s 72-man, no-cut Cadillac Championship near Miami, where he finished a lacklustre tied 62nd on one-over par — his worst result over four rounds this season.

With the year's second major on the horizon, set to take place next week at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia, Morikawa has opted to rest in preparation. 

Morikawa's compatriot Andrew Putnam replaces him in the field at Quail Hollow.

World number one Scottie Scheffler has also chosen to skip this week’s event, prioritising rest ahead of the PGA Championship.

Scheffler finished six shots behind Cameron Young in solo second at the Cadillac Championship. 

That marked Scheffler's third straight solo runner-up finish on the PGA Tour. 

The Truist Championship in Charlotte marks the sixth of eight Signature Events on the schedule. 

Rory McIlroy, a record four-time winner at Quail Hollow, headlines the field.

The six-time major champion celebrated his 37th birthday today. 

Last week's Cadillac winner Young is also in the lineup, and so too is an equally red-hot Matt Fitzpatrick.

Xander Schauffele and Ludvig Aberg are also towards the front of the betting market. 

Sepp Straka is the defending champion. 

There is once again a huge $20m prize purse on the line, with $3.6m going to the winner.