Pebble Beach Pro-Am leaderboard, grades: Collin Morikawa grabs first win since 2023
The drought is finally over for Collin Morikawa. Emerging from a crowded leaderboard at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday, Morikawa claimed his first PGA Tour title since the 2023 Zozo Championship by reaching 22 under with a clinching birdie on the 72nd hole to skirt past Min Woo Lee and Sepp Straka by a single stroke.
Morikawa’s win represents his first in a signature event and first in the United States since the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession. Emerging victorious for the second time in his home state of California, his career win total on the PGA Tour climbs to seven.
At the start of the day, Akshay Bhatia was the man to chase as the 54-hole leader sat atop the leaderboard by a couple of strokes.
The first player to push Bhatia was world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who played his first seven holes in 7 under to push his name into the second spot on the leaderboard. Shortly after, Jacob Bridgeman bridged the gap and took the solo lead following four birdies across his first six holes. Meanwhile, Morikawa bided his time and exchanged a birdie for a bogey before penciling circles onto his scorecard on Nos. 7-8.
The peloton continued to jockey for position on the inward half as Sam Burns burst ahead. Morikawa matched his pace and then pulled past him with a 30-foot birdie bid on No. 15 and another from inside 10 feet on No. 16. Two strokes clear with two to play, Morikawa’s main foe became Lee as the electric Australian made birdie on his final two holes to cut Morikawa’s lead in half and post the clubhouse lead at 21 under — one better than Scheffler, who made three eagles to post 20 under.
Morikawa was unable to find the putting surface on the par-3 17th, leading to his second bogey of the afternoon. Dropping into a share of the lead with Lee, the American needed a closing birdie to avoid the first playoff in this tournament in over two decades.
The two-time major champion found the fairway off the tee but had to wait 20 excruciating minutes as Bridgeman hit his third shot onto the beach in the group ahead and weighed various ruling options. That time must have felt like a lifetime for Morikawa, who paced on the fairway taking in the gorgeous views of the Pacific Ocean.
It was worth the wait as Morikawa rode the wind with his second shot to perfection, setting up a simple up-and-down for birdie and a long-awaited return to the winner’s circle. Grade: A+
Here are the grades for some notable players on the leaderboard at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
T4. Scottie Scheffler (-20): Sitting as many as 13 strokes off the lead on Friday and entering Sunday eight behind Bhatia, the world No. 1’s streak of 17 top-10 finishes appeared to be in danger; however, he quickly put that to bed by playing the first seven holes in 7 under and leaping into contention. Scheffler touched the lead on the back nine with a birdie on No. 11, lost his spot and then regained a share with a third eagle of his final round on the par-5 18th to put a bow on a stellar 9-under 63. In the process, he made more than 150 feet of putts in a single round for the first time in his career. Scheffler has not finished outside the top 10 since last year’s Players Championship.
“It’s amazing, in a sense, I played three really good rounds these weeks,” Scheffler said. “One of my skills — and I feel I’ve been able to be on a lot of leaderboards recently — is getting in the round when I haven’t had my best stuff. A frustrating start to both of the last couple weeks. But I think these are some of the weeks, when you look back, I’m very proud of sticking with it, not giving up — even when I felt like things were going against me this week. Just kept fighting, kept trying to hit shots, kept trying to execute. Ted [Scott, caddie] did a really good job of keeping me in it. … Just proud of how I fought all week.” Grade: A-
T6. Akshay Bhatia (-19): Holding a five-stroke lead at one point over the weekend before entering the final round with a two-stroke edge, Bhatia’s conversion rate as a leader at the 54-hole mark now stands at 1 of 4 after this latest unsuccessful attempt. While many took advantage of the opening handshake at Pebble Beach, Bhatia played his first seven holes over par and squandered his lead early in the final round. He was unable to claw his way back into the lead from there as he struggled to score the rest of the way in. Grade: A-
T13. Rory McIlroy (-17): A week that was filled with big numbers ended without a single bogey on his scorecard. McIlroy was flawless on Sunday at Pebble Beach en route to a final-round 64, but his title defense was upended with one too many double bogeys as he carded three for the tournament, plus a triple bogey. His iron play was sensational in his first week back on the PGA Tour as he returned to his trusty blades, employing a similar strategy to his 2025 victory and bombing driver off the tee at every opportunity.
“Twenty-six [birdies] and two eagles or something like that, but I made three doubles and a triple,” McIlroy said. “One of the first starts back of the year, trying to get the sloppy stuff out of the way, which I feel like I did. Obviously, a really solid round to play going into next week. … I played really well today, which is great. Sets me up well for next week.” Grade: B+
T29. Jordan Spieth (-13): Took advantage of the easy opening stretch at Pebble Beach in both of his weekend rounds, but the former tournament champion was unable to get either round in the house. Spieth was 5 under through seven holes on Saturday and 4 under through six holes on Sunday. In the final round, he carded three bogeys across his next four holes, dropping from 17 under and in contention to outside the top 20. It is a nice bounce-back performance following a missed cut at the WM Phoenix Open, but there is still work to be done, especially with the iron play, which was less than stellar for the week. Grade: C
T58. Viktor Hovland (-6): Hovland went viral this week for everything but his game as, first, video surfaced of him using swimming floaties as a training aid on the range at last week’s WM Phoenix Open. Another viral clip was created on Sunday when he attempted to knock a ball out of a tree on No. 18 by throwing his umbrella at it, only to lose the umbrella in the tree, too. As stated in the offseason, Hovland’s driving is worth monitoring as he ranked outside the top 70 in the field in strokes gained off the tee and driving distance. Grade: D-
First Appeared on
Source link