2026 Pebble Beach Pro-Am leaderboard: Collin Morikawa rockets into second, eyeing first win since 2023

Akshay Bhatia will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, eyeing his third career victory on the PGA Tour. Aiming to chase him down on Sunday will be Collin Morikawa, whose round-of-the-day 62 puts him in contention for his first win since 2023.

Saturday’s third round started much like the first two days with the field torching a soft golf course with little wind impacting the best players in the world. There weretwo hole-outs for eagle on No. 1 in the two groups before Bhatia’s final group went off with Sam Burns leaping into the solo lead with his pin-seeking effort.

As birdies and eagles dropped all over the front nine, the final group knew it needed to go low to stay in the lead, but only Bhatia could answer that challenge. The 24-year-old came out scalding, making birdie on six of his first seven holes to open up a five-shot lead at 21 under and threaten to run away and hide.

At that point, the wind started to pick up, and Pebble Beach began to show its teeth as players made their way through the difficult middle of the course. Bhatia finally made his first bogey of the week on the par-3 12th, when he was unable to get up and down after sailing his tee shot long.

While Bhatia was stalling out, Morikawa was putting the finishing touches on his tremendous effort. Morikawa has been struggling to find his form the last two years, but he polished off his best round in a while, a 10-under 62 that sent him skyrocketing 25 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for second and the final pairing on Sunday.

Morikawa went out in 6-under 30, made his only bogey of the day on the tough 10th and then closed with five birdies in his last six holes to get firmly in the mix. He was later joined at 17 under by Jake Knapp and Sepp Straka, but his run to the clubhouse — including a closing birdie from the bunker on the 18th — could prove to be the difference maker in this tournament as he looks for his first win in nearly three years.

That’s because Bhatia never got it back on the tracks on a birdie-free back nine, adding a second bogey to his card on the par-3 17th after being unable to get up-and-down from a plugged lie in the bunker. As he played the 18th, winds began gusting over 30 mph, making it extremely challenging to take advantage of the closing par 5. Bhatia found the bunker with his second and walked off with a par to shoot 68 and sit at 19 under.

That rocky back nine sets the stage for a fascinating final round. While Bhatia has won twice before, a win at a signature event would be, by far, the biggest victory of his young career. On top of dealing with the pressure of a 54-hole lead and a $3.6 million check on the line, Sunday will be even tougher with strong winds and rain forecast for the entire day.

Leader

1. Akshay Bhatia (-19): Bhatia looked like he might lap the field early on Saturday, but he’s in for quite the fight on Sunday with the chasers and the golf course. There were a few occasions on the back nine during which he struggled with his distance control in the wind – most notably on the two par 3s that he made bogey — and his putter got a bit shaky late. That was a big divergence from the first 45 holes, during which he was sensational, but he’ll need to figure out how to confidently pick his yardages and get settled on his line and speed on the greens in stiff winds on Sunday if he’s going to hold on for the win.

Contenders

T2. Collin Morikawa, Sepp Straka, Jake Knapp (-17)
5. Jacob Bridgeman (-16)
6. Hideki Matsuyama (-15)
T7. Maverick McNealy, Tommy Fleetwood, Sam Burns, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune (-14)
T12. Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry and three others (-13)

It’s hard to see scores in the low 60s being out there again on Sunday consiering the forecast, but this might be a final round where the winner is the one who can inch forward and hang on. There will be plenty of bogeys or worse lurking all over Pebble Beach in the final round, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Bhatia comes back to the field some.

The battle on Sunday will be as much a mental one as physical because there will be bad breaks and players getting gusted all day. The player who can keep it on the tracks and avoid letting things spiral in challenging conditions will get the win, and there are several players who fit that level-headed bill in this chase group.

The immediate pack of Morikawa, Knapp and Straka features three terrific ball-strikers when they’re on their game. The question for Morikawa is how confident he can remain in his game in tough conditions, because in theory, he should be a player who can navigate high winds when he’s at his best. Straka is always steady, while Knapp can be a bit more mercurial, but the talented youngster also has a variety of shot shapes in his bag that could help him make his way around in the wind.

Further down, the likes of Matsuyama, Fleetwood, Schauffele and Lowry all know how to handle difficult conditions and should be comfortable with the grind it’ll take to get through Sunday.

Updated 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am odds, picks

Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook

• Akshay Bhatia (+185)
• Jake Knapp (+470)
• Collin Morikawa (+470)
• Sepp Straka (+470)
• Jacob Bridgeman (14-1)
• Hideki Matsuyama (19-1)

Betting Bhatia at this point feels risky, though if the last hour of play on Saturday was an indication of how strong the wind might be, perhaps the organisers will call the tournament if they cannot get the ball to stay still on the greens, making him a rare 54-hole winner. Barring that happening, Straka’s chances are legitimate because his ball-striking should hold up. Matsuyama is a similarly solid play as he is only four shots back and could potentially do to Bhatia what Chris Gotterup did to him last week.