Fresh from Masters, Morikawa paces RBC

MIAMI, Florida (AFP) — Collin Morikawa bounced back from his final round disappointment at the Masters, shooting a six-under 65 first round at the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage tournament on Thursday.

J.T. Poston held the first-round lead at Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head in South Carolina after shooting an eight under-par 63.

Morikawa, who sat just a stroke behind eventual Masters winner Scottie Scheffler going into Sunday’s final round at Augusta, had finished tied for third after shooting a two-over 74.

But the Californian looked confident and in-form with the only blemish on his scorecard coming with a bogey on the par-4 11th hole.

“It was very solid. The one bogey made, didn’t even hit that bad of an approach shot, and I think it clipped the tree and somehow bounced 25 yards to the right,” Morikawa said.

“For the most part, it’s just a continuation and just trust of what I’ve been working on, especially kind of over this past week and a half.

“It’s a nice little groove to be in, and hopefully we can keep this going throughout the rest of this week,” he said.

World No. 1 Scheffler had a shaky start to his round with a double bogey on the par-four third but recovered to card a two-under 69.

The now two-times Masters winner said it hadn’t been easy to get back into competition after all the excitement of the past week.