San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – Collin Morikawa claimed a tense victory at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California on Sunday, fending off a final-day charge by top-ranked Scottie Scheffler that included three eagles. Double major-winner Morikawa had not triumphed on the PGA Tour since 2023 but started the day in joint-second and birdied the final hole in blustery conditions to win by a stroke on 22 under par.
“It’s special for a lot of reasons,” said Morikawa, who used his win to announce that he and his wife are expecting their first child. “We just started telling people this week, and we said, ‘what better way…to just announce it to the world, if I was able to come out and win,'” he said. Back in the state where he was born and raised, Morikawa had pulled clear of a crowded leaderboard down the stretch with a superb 30-foot putt for birdie on the 15th, and another birdie on 16.
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With benign conditions turning gusty in the final hour, Morikawa hooked his tee shot on 17 and could only manage a bogey from the oceanside rough. He faced an agonizing 20-minute wait on the 18th fairway as Jacob Bridgeman, in the preceding group, played a shot from the beach that cracked off a cliff and back into the ocean. But a birdie on 18 was enough to seal a single-stroke win over Australia’s Min Woo Lee and Austria’s Sepp Straka, with Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood a further shot back.
“I tried to look out in the ocean as many times as I can. I love being out here,” said Morikawa of the delay. “Pebble Beach…not many places can beat this place in the world.” Lee — chasing his second PGA Tour win, after a debut victory last March in Houston — shot 65, finishing with birdies on the final two holes. It was in stark contrast to Lee’s finish Saturday, when the 27-year-old had bogeyed the final two holes and dramatically tossed his ball into the Pacific Ocean in frustration.
But the day’s best round came from world number one Scheffler, who started Sunday eight shots off the lead in joint 22nd and made a remarkable charge up the leaderboard. He began in blistering form with two eagles and three birdies in his first seven holes. Pushing hard for the finish line, Scheffler missed long on four consecutive holes, picking up two bogeys in that stretch. Still, Scheffler finished with another eagle for a round of 63 and the joint lead at 20 under par, just as winds picked up for the remaining players on the course. It was not quite enough for a famous win.
“Anytime you’ve got three eagles in one round, good things are happening…Proud of the way I played today,” said Scheffler. Defending champion Rory McIlroy also had a superb final round, carding 64, but was never in contention after three doubles and a triple bogey earlier this week. “I wish I could have those four holes back this week. I played 68 really good ones,” said McIlroy. “But all in all, some really good stuff this week. Pretty encouraged going into next week for sure,” added the world number two.
Morikawa’s two major victories came at the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship. Wins have dried up in recent years, and he started this season’s tour with a missed cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, before exploding back into form at Pebble Beach.
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