Collin Morikawa stunningly pulls out of The Players Championship after one hole

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.— Collin Morikawa’s Players Championship was over almost before it began Thursday at TPC Sawgrass, where he tweaked his back taking a practice swing on the second hole of his opening round.Morikawa was forced to withdraw after experiencing obvious discomfort on the 11th tee box moments after making par on the 10th, his first (and last) hole of the day.He was taken away in a cart, leaving his playing partners, Ludvig Aberg and Si Woo Kim, to play the rest of the round as a twosome.“I felt fine in warm-up,” Morikawa said.

“Like nothing’s been any signs of back problems. Honestly, (on the) first hole (I) felt great, hit two great shots, hit a great putt.Teed it up, nothing felt bad. (I) teed it up on 11 and took one practice swing and I just knew it was gone. It all hit me at one second, where I was like, ‘Something doesn’t feel right.’“I took a practice swing, there it was, like not being able to swing. Trust me, I would play if I could.

It’s just the worst thing in the world.”Morikawa, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in January, was one of the favorites to win this week.He also finished in a tie for seventh at the Genesis Invitational and fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week.Though he was obviously gutted not to be able to continue, Morikawa said he’s “had this stuff before.’’“Before I even took my practice swing, it’s like you had a weird deja vu thing,’’ he said.

“I took the practice swing and immediately knew I just couldn’t get through impact.At that point, (I) called over my trainer and talked about it with my caddie Mark (Urbanek).

It just sucks.“It’s just frustrating, because I don’t know what caused it.I went through all the warmups (and) felt fine.

It’s awful.I feel terrible.’’Now, Moriwaka will focus on being healthy for the Masters next month.“I kind of know the protocols of what to do and kind of dance around it,’’ he said.

“But it’s go...