PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – When Collin Morikawa was getting ready to turn pro out of Cal-Berkeley, he participated in a TrackMan combine. Golf Channel’s Aaron Oberholser remembers hearing reports of legendary numbers on Morikawa’s 6-irons, which already were as precise as the pitching wedges of PGA Tour players. “When I heard that, I said, ‘I need to see it to believe it,’ ” Oberholser said.
Morikawa, who turned 29 last week, showed Oberholser he’s still got it. On Saturday, Morikawa hit all 18 greens in regulation, poured in 11 birdies and shot 10-under 62 at Pebble Beach Golf Links. How good was Morikawa’s ball-striking? He gained 6.472 strokes on the field in approach shots, the best Strokes Gained: Approach number in AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am history and the second best in the Shotlink era (dating to 2004).
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“The last two days have felt kind of like my old self in just being able to control the golf ball. I’m seeing a lot more pin-high shots, which is great for someone who relies on their ball-striking. But it’s nice to know essentially where your irons are going to start,” Morikawa said.
His birdie binge, which included four in a row to finish the front nine and five of his final six holes, lifted him to 17-under 199, part of a three-way tie for second and two strokes off the pace set by Akshay Bhatia. Morikawa, who won two majors and six times in his Tour career, is winless since the 2023 Zozo Championship and has just one Tour title to his credit since winning the 2021 British Open. After a subpar Ryder Cup for Team USA, Morikawa started the season with a missed cut in Hawaii and a lackluster T-54 last week in Phoenix. That makes nine straight starts dating to late June without a top-10 finish.
More: Sunday Matters: Why you need to see the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach finale
“I went into this year feeling really good about myself. You go out and play two rounds at Sony and I missed the cut and you realize, man, do I need to redo everything that you thought you were doing for the last two months,” he said. “This game is stressful enough and I think I make it even more stressful for whatever reason.”
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Morikawa is quick to admit that he’s hard on himself and has high expectations. His attitude is that he plays to win and the lack of trophies in recent years has led to coaching changes, putter changes and frustration. “You ask anyone on my team, like I can get down on myself pretty quickly because I know there’s just really fine margins out here,” he said.
Feb 14, 2026; Pebble Beach, California, USA; Collin Morikawa (left) and caddie Mark Urbanek (right) on the 18th hole during the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
CBS’s Jim Nantz noted on the broadcast that he had bumped into Morikawa and he had been down in the dumps. But his longtime coach Rick Sessinghaus, helped give him the pep talk he needed on Friday.
“He reminded me yesterday when I first came out and turned pro, like I didn’t care about honestly making cuts or top-20s, I came out to win,” Morikawa said. “When he told me that yesterday, there was that mindset switch going into today. I wanted to come out and win, win the weekend, win the tournament. Now we’ve given ourselves a chance.”
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The stripe show with his irons has him in the thick of the trophy hunt at a course where he has shot under par in all 10 rounds at this event. The questions remains: can his putter cooperate? He made just 58 feet of putts on Saturday – though hitting it so close to the hole contributed to that tiny figure. Morikawa changed putters again this week, installing a TaylorMade Spider in the bag this week.
“This putter I actually stole from Kurt Kitayama two weeks ago, when we were at home,” Morikawa said. “It’s kind of settling nice to where it allows it to flow a little bit but it doesn’t have as much toe hang as the neck assumes just because of the mallet look. So it’s doing what I want. Hopefully we can start them online tomorrow and see if they drop.”
But he conceded he’s still unsettled on his putter and added, “I think I might be for the rest of my career.”
Morikawa ranked 156th in SG: Putting last season and in the early going of the season he’s No. 159. This week, he ranks 59th out of the 80-man field. Yet, he’s confident that better days with the flatstick are ahead for him.
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“I think I can still be a very solid putter, a consistent enough putter to where when it comes down the stretch, you can make those putts,” he said. “I’ve seen it in the past, I’m going to dig deep into those memory banks a lot tomorrow and we’ll figure it out after.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Collin Morikawa’s record round at Pebble Beach: ‘My old self’
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