Collin Morikawa played some of his best golf in over two years to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – all with a stolen club!
After an average Friday, Morikawa put together the best ball-striking round of his career on Saturday, gaining more than six strokes on the field.
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Morikawa played the best stroke-gaining round in tournament history on Saturday
Not only was it his best, but it was also the best in tournament history, leaving him well in play heading into the final day.
Having been two ahead with two to play on Sunday, the American’s lead suddenly disappeared when Min Woo Lee, who was left frustrated at the weather on Saturday, birdied 18, and Morikawa bogeyed the penultimate hole.
But on the 18th, Morikawa found the green and left himself a short birdie putt to win the lucrative event at Pebble Beach.
The putter used to hole that winning birdie and earn him his first PGA Tour win since 2023 was not one of his own.
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While playing a round in Las Vegas before the Pebble Beach event, Morikawa wasn’t playing well with his usual flat stick.
He would grab the putter from the bag of Kurt Kitayama’s brother, Daniel, who was borrowing it at the time, and he immediately liked it.
“That’s kind of how I stole it,” Morikawa told reporters after winning the event.
“I don’t know if he’s going to want it back. He looked at it again this week.
“I think he’s trying to replicate it with maybe a different club or whatever. But it’s mine now.”
Morikawa’s putting has been a sore point in his game for several years, and his ‘borrowed’ putter is a shift in style from the blade he usually plays with.
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Morikawa ‘borrowed’ Kurt Kitayama’s putter and used it throughout the Pebble Beach Pro-Am
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Morikawa birdied the 18th to deny Scottie Scheffler’s incredible comeback
It proved to be the difference-maker for him to capture his first win in over 800 days and hold off a late surge from the world’s best player.
Scheffler denied stunning comeback
Sitting as many as 13 strokes off the lead on Friday, things appeared bleak for Scottie Scheffler entering Sunday as the world No. 1’s streak of 17 top-10 finishes appeared to be in danger.
However, he quickly put that to bed by playing the first seven holes in 7 under and leaping into contention.
Scheffler birdied 10 and 11 and was suddenly tied for the lead.
After dropping shots on 12 and 15, he arrived at the final hole likely needing an eagle to have a chance of making a playoff.
With the wind howling off the Pacific Ocean, Scheffler split the fairway on the par-5 and then stiffed his approach from 186 yards to under three feet.
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Scheffler came agonisingly close to winning his second PGA event this year
He rolled in the putt to tie the lead and post 20 under, but in the end, the miraculous comeback wasn’t enough to leapfrog Morikawa.
Scheffler has recorded back-to-back top five finishes in the last two weeks despite starting the Phoenix Open and Pebble Beach Pro-Am sluggishly.
“A frustrating start to both of the last couple weeks,” said Scheffler.
“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.
“It’s almost like I’m play(ing) a wolf game; you’re trying to birdie every single hole.
“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.
“It’s a funny game – sometimes things go your way and sometimes things don’t.
“Like today’s the day where I holed a lot of putts from 10, 20 feet. On greens like this, there’s a lot of suspense when the ball’s rolling up to the hole.
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“The beginning of the week those putts weren’t falling and they all decided to go in today, so it’s just a funny game.”
Scheffler and Morikawa will both be eyeing glory in this week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club and the Signature Event will be live on talkSPORT 2.