Scottie Scheffler’s run came just a bit too early on Sunday afternoon at Pebble Beach.
With Scheffler watching from the clubhouse, it was instead Collin Morikawa who made it out to claim the first signature event of the PGA Tour season and end his years-long dry spell.
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Morikawa fended off a huge group late on Sunday afternoon at Pebble Beach Golf Links to claim the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He posted a 5-under 67 in his final round to get to 22-under on the week, which gave him a one-shot win over the field. The win is Morikawa’s seventh of his Tour career, and his first since 2023.
Though he had a two-shot lead late, Morikawa had to birdie the 18th to claim his win. After a short drive on the par-5, Morikawa landed his second shot just short on the rough after a nearly 20-minute delay in the fairway while Jacob Bridgeman struggled ahead of him to close out his round.
Morikawa then easily secured a two-putt birdie, despite his ball sitting right on the edge of the thick rough, to finish out his win.
That left Morikawa understandably emotional on the green as his wife, Katherine Zhu, came out to celebrate with him.
“We’re actually expecting later this year, in a few months, and we just started telling people this week,” Morikawa revealed on CBS, wiping away tears. “We said, ‘What a better way, the best way to announce it to the world if I was able to come out and win?’
“There’s so much to life, there’s so much to enjoy. I’m hard on myself … I’m just so thankful for the people around me.”
Morikawa survives late at Pebble Beach
Morikawa only got into contention thanks to a wild moving day, where he put up 11 birdies to jump into a three-way tie for second. He still entered the final round two shots back of Akshay Bhatia.
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Morikawa hung around early on a windy, rainy Sunday, too. He made the turn at 2-under on the day, and then joined the pack at 20-under after a birdie at the 11th. But it was a 30-footer at the par-4 15th that finally sent Morikawa into the solo lead for the first time.
Morikawa followed that up with an 8-foot birdie putt at the 16th, which suddenly gave him a two-shot lead over the field. But that immediately disappeared, after Min Woo Lee birdied above him and then Morikawa bogeyed the 17th when his tee shot on the par 3 landed in the thick rough well left of the green.
But that set up Morikawa’s two-putt birdie and his eventual win on the final hole.
“[A win here] was never in the dreams, honestly. Pebble Beach was a course that you just wanted to come and play, and you wanted to come and play against the pros and play against the best in the world,” he said on CBS. “62 yesterday, a great field, a great leaderboard looking at the entire day. Just to be able to pull off those last two shots … it feels great.
“I’m slowly trying to smile now, because the tears I think are going away.”
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Even though it was too early, Scheffler was once again in contention. The top-ranked golfer in the world made a massive run earlier in the day after he started eight shots back.
Scheffler posted a 9-under 63, which gave him his 19th straight top-10 finish on Tour, and his 18th round of 63 or better on Tour over the past five seasons — which is five more than anyone else has produced over that timespan. Scheffler joined the leaders at 20-under when he hit the clubhouse, too, thanks to an absolutely ridiculous approach into the par-5 18th as the wind was picking up. That gave him his third eagle of the day. He is now the first golfer in the past four decades to make that many in a single round in this event.
Had it not been for a trio of bogeys, two of which came on the back side, Scheffler may have run away with the event completely. But his bogeys and early start left plenty of time for the rest of the field to overtake him. Lee birdied the 18th, too, to get to 21-under — which eliminated Scheffler from contention and made things more complicated for Morikawa briefly. That gave Lee his second-place finish, his best outing on Tour since his inaugural win last season.
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Scheffler finished in a tie for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood, a shot back from Lee. Sepp Straka joined Lee in second after he eagled the final hole.
Morikawa’s win was the first of his career since he claimed the Zozo Championship in 2023. That came after his British Open win in 2021, which was his second major title. Morikawa missed only three cuts last season and had a pair of runner-up finishes, and the 29-year-old entered this week at No. 19 in the Official World Golf Rankings, but that seventh win continued to elude him.
But now, after nearly 850 days, Morikawa has finally won again.
“Shoot, we’re at Pebble Beach,” Morikawa said, looking out at the Pacific Ocean briefly. “So I’m going to enjoy this one.”
