Top 10? That was never the goal.
Scottie Scheffler began the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am seven shots off the lead but made three eagles Sunday at Pebble Beach Golf Links, carding a 9-under 63. After a closing ‘3′ on the par-5 18th, Scheffler held the clubhouse lead at 20 under par, but it wasn’t quite enough as Collin Morikawa (67) won at 22 under. Scheffler finished tied for fourth.
The world No. 1 had finished inside the top 10 in 17 consecutive PGA Tour events, but keeping that streak alive wasn’t on his mind entering the final 18 on the Monterey Peninsula.
More remarkable than giving himself a chance to win his 21st career Tour title, Scheffler’s 63 included four missed putts inside 7 feet, resulting in three bogeys. Ironically, his 151 feet of putts made was his most ever in a Tour round.
Beginning the final stanza under decent conditions, with weather forecast to deteriorate throughout the day, Scheffler went birdie-eagle-birdie over his first three holes.
“I birdied 1. I’m like OK, maybe eagle on 2, see what happens. Eagle to 2, you’re like, alright, let’s see if I can birdie 3. It’s almost like I’m play a wolf game, you’re trying to birdie every single hole,” Scheffler said. “If I shot 75 today it wouldn’t make much difference. Just get up there and kind of freewheeled it and did some nice things.”
After missing a 4-footer for birdie at the fourth but then saving par from 14 feet at the fifth, Scheffler made his second eagle of the day at the par-5 sixth. His approach shot from 256 yards finished 25 feet from the hole, into which he buried his putt with little emotion.
A tee shot to 9 feet on the short par-3 seventh set up another birdie, getting him to 18 under for the tournament (7 under through seven holes on the day) and one behind 54-hole leader Akshay Bhatia, who was just starting his final round.
That deficit quickly changed, however, as Bhatia birdied the par-5 second and Scheffler bogeyed the par-4 eighth, putting the latter three back. After a par at the ninth to turn in 30, Scheffler regained his momentum with birdies on Nos. 10 and 11. Again, he found himself one off the lead, this time held by Bridgeman, who birded four of his first six holes Sunday. Bhatia lost ground with bogeys at the fourth and sixth holes to fall two off the pace.
Scheffler bogeyed the 12th, birdied the 14th and bogeyed the 15th. Trailing by two shots, he needed something special on the par-5 18th to have a chance — and he delivered. Scheffler hit his tee shot 329 yards into the fairway, a 186-yard approach inside 3 feet and, with the wind whipping, rolled in eagle No. 3 (the first time in his Tour career that he’s made three eagles in a round).
Scheffler was making his third start of the season. He won in his debut at The American Express and overcame a slow start at the WM Phoenix Open to tie for third. He hasn’t finished outside the top 10 on Tour since last year’s Players Championship and also has eight straight top-5 finishes.
“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,” he said. “Just kept fighting, kept trying to hit shots, kept trying to execute. [Caddie] Ted [Scott] did a really good job of keeping me in it. Ultimately probably come up a few shots short, but yeah, just proud of how I fought all week.”