The good weather of the first two rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where a significant number of very low scores were achieved both at the Golf Links of Pebble Beach and at Spyglass, gave way this Saturday to a grey day on the Monterey Peninsula. A moving day where wind gusts of over 35 mph, especially late in the afternoon, complicated life for the protagonists of the first designated event of the season on the PGA Tour and promised an exciting finish for tomorrow. Something to which, in his own way, the tournament leader, Akshay Bhatia (-19), also contributed.
The American of Indian descent, who started Saturday tied at the top of the leaderboard with Ryo Hisatsune (-13), had two options to avoid being ‘devoured’ by the pack of contenders chasing him: play conservative golf, always looking in the rear-view mirror and trying to minimise mistakes, or go all out. He opted for the latter, with a tremendous six under par in his first seven holes that shot him up the leaderboard. But suddenly, when he seemed to have everything under control, his round hit a snag from which he never recovered.
He tried to continue his streak by taking risks from the tee on the par fours of the 8th and 11th, without success. And on the par three of the 12th, where he misjudged the distance from the tee, he went long into a rough area and ended up making his first bogey of the day. A mistake that seemed to calm his initial momentum, inviting him to play it safe. So much so that he missed a very good birdie chance on the par five of the 14th, started struggling to save pars, and made another bogey on the 17th, missing an easy putt for par after a great recovery from the sand.
Akshay have a day! 💥 pic.twitter.com/JXTRSPjOau
— AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (@attproam) February 14, 2026
Bhatia led by five shots midway through the round, with two par fives ahead to improve his score, but he will face the final 18 holes of the tournament with just two over Collin Morikawa (-17), who shone today with a spectacular round of 62 strokes with no less than 11 birdies, Sepp Straka (-17), very consistent throughout the week, and Jake Knapp (-17), who started the day with an eagle and finished with another. Three dangerous rivals joined by up to six more within a five-shot margin, more than recoverable on a windy and rainy Sunday as expected.
Jacob Bridgeman (-16) and Hideki Matsuyama (-15) are two of the names within relatively close range. Not to mention Maverick McNealy (-14), Tommy Fleetwood (-14), Sam Burns (-14), or Min Woo Lee (-14). All of them benefited greatly from the wind blowing so hard at the end that when the last group reached the 18th, it was almost impossible to replace the ball on the green without the air moving it. A situation that unsettled the leader, missing a final two-metre putt for birdie, to the point of leaving the course swearing in ‘Aramaic’.
It doesn’t seem that the World Number One, Scottie Scheffler (-11), who climbed 12 more places today to get closer to the top 20 with a round of 67 strokes, is still in time to fight for the victory. Just like the defending champion, Rory McIlroy (-9), very erratic this Saturday and unable to gain a single stroke on the course. But what is certain is that with the challenging playing conditions expected (even the schedules will be brought forward, with two starting tees and groups of three), anything is possible at Pebble Beach. The wind has played its part, and Bhatia, despite still being the main favourite to win, too.
