The most-bet golfer at two major U.S. sportsbooks lasted just one hole before withdrawing from The Players Championship.
Collin Morikawa, the biggest liability heading into the tournament for DraftKings and BetMGM, tweaked his back during a swing on his second hole on Thursday. After getting checked out, the golfer wasn’t able to return to the course.
Collin Morikawa (back injury) WD during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 12, 2026
Collin Morikawa withdraws from The Players after one hole.
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) March 12, 2026
🎥 @PGATOUR, ESPN+pic.twitter.com/HYTmcw8X5S
With his withdrawal official, BetMGM announced that all wagers on the golfer will be canceled and refunded.
All bets on Morikawa will be voided at @BetMGM https://t.co/4iK7knHBub
— John Ewing (@johnewing) March 12, 2026
DraftKings reported that all Morikawa bets are covered under the “Early Exit” feature. Cash credits will be distributed within the next 24 hours.
We will be covering ALL bets on Morikawa under the Early Exit program, including hole and round props. 🤝 https://t.co/noVKAv14ZE
— DraftKings Support (@DK_Assist) March 12, 2026
Fanatics Sportsbook said that its “Fair Play” promotion was activated on all Morikawa prop bets.
FAIR PLAY™ activated. Honoring all player prop bets impacted by Collin Morikawa's 1st Round injury. pic.twitter.com/tiMbnIZ4vI
— Fanatics Sportsbook (@FanaticsBook) March 12, 2026
No other major sportsbooks announced a ruling on Morikawa bets at the time of publishing.
Popular guy
Morikawa was getting 8.2% of the tickets and 12.6% of the handle in BetMGM’s Wednesday report, the most handle of any other golfer in the field, including +450 favorite Scottie Scheffler. Morikawa’s Players Championship odds went from +2,200 at open down to +1,600.
Morikawa’s betting popularity at one of the biggest non-Major golf tournaments of the year wasn’t a big surprise. He won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month before finishing seventh at The Genesis Invitational and then fifth last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Morikawa led the way in bets over Rory McIlroy (7.6%) and Ludvig Aberg (5.7%) in the tournament winner without Scheffler markets at BetMGM, and he received significantly more money than second-place Hideki Matsuyama (8.2%) and Akshay Bhatia (7.9%).
In the Players winner market that removes Scheffler, Morikawa got a whopping 30.9% of the handle and more than 10% of the bets. Morikawa was also the most-bet golfer in the first-round leader, top 5, and top 10 markets at BetMGM.
