Collin Morikawa held off a final-round surge from world no.1 Scottie Scheffler to collect his first PGA TOUR title in over two years with a tight one-shot victory in a pulsating AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The 29-year-old American came into the final round at Pebble Beach Golf Links two shots adrift of overnight leader Akshay Bhatia and suffered a pedestrian start to the day to fall further back. However, the two-time major winner found his groove through the middle stages to climb to the summit of a packed leaderboard. This included Scheffler who began the day eight shots off the pace but produced a remarkable comeback on the Sunday to threaten a historic victory by taking the clubhouse lead at 20 under carding a 9-under 63, the best round of the day.
Morikawa looked on track after a birdie at the 15th and 16th saw him on 22 under but late pressure came from Australia’s Min Woo Lee who sunk four birdies in a six hole stretch to set a new clubhouse target at 21 under. He was joined by Austrian Sepp Straka who holed an eagle at the last to ramp up the pressure even further as a play-off looked to be on the cards. The pressure seemed to have told when the American bogeyed the 17th to find himself level with the pair but he recovered on the final hole by sinking a clutch birdie putt from close range to card a 5-under 67 and end the tournament on 22 under to seal victory in the first signature event of the season.
It marks Morikawa’s first triumph on the PGA TOUR since the 2023 ZOZO Championship and it has helped him leap up to no. 5 on the Official World Golf Rankings.
“This is special for a lot of reasons. I have put countless hours, nights, probably too many hours thinking about golf and it takes up a lot of my life, it’s part of who I am it really is,” said Morikawa,
“I am so thankful for the people around me and those who keep believing in me, I kept believing in myself.
“At the start of the week it didn’t feel like this was possible, but with the right steps and the right belief I was able to put one step in front of the other, hit some great shots and make some great putts.”
Elsewhere, England’s Tommy Fleetwood joined Scheffer on 20 under following a final-round 66 as the pair tied for fourth while America’s Sam Burns finished a shot further adrift in a tie for sixth alongside Bhatia who was unable to replace his Saturday carding a level-par 72. Defending champion Rory McIlroy produced his best round of the event carding a 8-under 64 to claim a share of 14th.
What is the next event?
The next event on the PGA TOUR schedule is The Genesis Invitational taking place between 19-22 February at The Riviera Country Club in California.