PGA pro Collin Morikawa stunned golf fans and pundits alike on Thursday when he suddenly withdrew from The Players Championship after playing just one hole—having gone into the Florida tournament as one of the favorites to win.
Morikawa, 29, joined the likes of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Brooks Koepka at the prestigious event, which is being held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. However, he lasted only one hole before retiring with a sudden back injury.
The sports star told journalists at the event that he had “felt fine in warmup,” but that the pain in his back came on as he “teed it up on 11.”
“I felt fine in warmup. Like, no signs of back problems. And teed it up on 11, and took one practice swing, and I just knew it was gone,” he said, according to ESPN. “Like I just had the feeling before when it’s happened. And I just, I can’t swing through it. Trust me, I would play if I could. It’s just the worst thing in the world.”
The injury likely comes as an even bigger blow to Morikawa because of the major emphasis he has put on his health and fitness. He told media ahead of the event that he had been working hard to ensure he was in the best possible shape for the 2026 season.
“Coming into this year, I had a lot of confidence,” he said. “I put a lot of work into my body just to get stronger in general, get healthier, get strong, get fitter.”
Much of that work has been done around Morikawa’s home in Las Vegas, where he has lived since 2019, having moved there shortly after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley.
Morikawa, who was born in Los Angeles and attended La Cañada High School, is understood to have chosen Vegas as his new home base because of its impeccable golf courses and year-round warm, dry weather—which allows him to hit the links whenever he likes.
The golf pro also benefits from another aspect of Nevada living: the state’s lack of income tax, which means that he does not have to pay any levies on his winnings.
According to property records, the year that Morikawa moved to Vegas, he purchased a charming three-bedroom, two-bedroom abode less than a mile from the Arroyo Golf Club, paying $408,000 for the 1,800-square-foot dwelling.
However, in 2022, it appears he upgraded to a much larger—and pricier—property: an 8,600-square-foot mansion in an exclusive gated community called The Ridges, which is located in Summerlin. It overlooks the prestigious Bear’s Best Las Vegas golf course.
The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom property, which was described in a former listing as “a contemporary masterpiece,” was last sold for $8.75 million in January 2022, 10 months before Morikawa tied the knot with his wife, Katherine, who is expecting their first child in May of this year.
That sum may have seemed like chump change to Morikawa, who has racked up a total of $47.9 million in PGA Tour earnings since the start of his career, according to the organization’s website.
The dwelling boasts ample room for Morikawa’s growing family—with the pro golfer announcing in February, moments after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, that his wife was pregnant.
“Put golf aside, we’re actually expecting later this year, in a few months,” he said. “We just started telling people this week, and we said what a better way and the best way to announce it to the world, if I was able to come out and win.”
Perched on the eighth fairway of Bear’s Best—which was designed by retired pro golfer Jack Nicklaus, aka “The Golden Bear”—the home boasts walls of glass, which maximize the stunning views and enhance the indoor-outdoor flow of the dwelling.
Those views may soon get a lot more impressive thanks to a $300 million redevelopment of Bear’s Best, which was announced in April 2025, after the club was sold to new owners for the sky-high price of $30.5 million.
According to Luxury Las Vegas Group, the club was purchased by Andrew Pascal and Mike Mixer, both of whom live in The Ridges and who began an extensive refurbishment of Bear’s Best in September—with plans to reopen the course as an elite private club in October 2026.
While work is ongoing, Bear’s Best will remain closed to the public. However, Morikawa has a superb alternative in the form of the nearby Summit Club, which is widely regarded as the top course in Nevada, and one of the premier courses in the U.S.
Morikawa lives just a 12-minute drive away from the exclusive private club, which is home to a stunning course designed by Tom Fazio and which serves as his primary training base.
Over the years, the Summit Club has been home to several major stars, including Celine Dion, who pocketed $30 million when she sold her home in the community in 2023.
Actor Mark Wahlberg also lived in the exclusive neighborhood for several years before relocating to Florida in 2025.
As for Morikawa’s first Las Vegas home, records show that he still owns it—at least in part—with the dwelling currently registered under his name, as well as those of his parents, dad Blaine and mom Debbie, suggesting that they may be the ones currently living there.