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 WHERE 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.
Morikawa vaulted himself into contention with 11 birdies on Saturday. That threw him into a three-way tie for second, two shots back of Akshay Bhatia, entering the final round. He hung around early on a windy, rainy Sunday, too. Morikawa 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.
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But that set up Morikawa’s two-putt birdie and his eventual win on the final hole.
Scheffler made a massive, almost historic run on Sunday. The top-ranked golfer in the world started the day eight shots back, and then posted a 9-under 63. That gave him a 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 last 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 ran 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, however, 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, too.
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 only missed 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.
This post will be updated with more information shortly.
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