But then a cool day turned into a cold day, with more spectators holding coffee cups than beer cans. One of the most beautiful coastal courses in the world showed a nasty side on Saturday in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and Bhatia did everything he could to cross the finish line with a 4-under 68 and a two-shot lead.
“All in all, a strange day,” Bhatia said. “It felt like I lost some ground towards the end, but then I realized it was just playing so much harder for some of the guys who were in the latter starting times.”
And the worst may be yet to come.
Bhatia did enough early with six birdies in seven holes at the start of his round that even the last 11 holes with two bogeys and no birdies didn’t cost him the lead.
Start times for the final round were pushed back an hour due to the forecast of high winds and rain, a time for players to hold on to the seat of their rain pants.
Low scores were still available. Collin Morikawa, the two-time major champion who tried to go more than two years without a win, had 11 birdies in his round of 62, moving him up 25 spots in the leaderboard into a tie for second with Jake Knapp (66) and Sepp Straka (67).
Bhatia powered through 47 holes of the signature event until his first bogey when the strengthening wind sent his tee shot well over the green at the par-3 12th. He dropped another shot on the par-3 17th when the wind knocked his shot into the bunker and he missed a four-foot putt.
He went out in 30 and came in 38, just what Pebble Beach can do with wind. Still, Bhatia was 19-under 197.
Even without the “Celebrity Saturday” of the old AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am days – this is the third year of the old Clambake becoming a signature event – there was no shortage of entertainment.
Knapp, the smooth-swinging Southern Californian, started and ended with an eagle. He holed out from 450 feet on the par-4 first hole, and he rode into the wind for an approach to 12 feet for Eagle on the par-5 18th.
Sam Burns also looked for Eagle to start his day, giving him the temporary lead. He didn’t end with an eagle, but it was no less surprising: a shot from the greenside bunker from the video board behind the green, then a chip that rattled the pin for birdie.
Burns saved a 72 and was five behind a group that included Tommy Fleetwood (67) and Maverick McNealy (63).
Defending champion Rory McIlroy was ten shots behind, and he can count five holes that put him that far back. He had a triple bogey (drive to the beach at No. 4) and a double bogey (drive out-of-bounds to right at No. 18) in his third round of 72. He had a pair of three-putt double bogeys from 5 feet on Thursday. And he had a shank that led to a bogey on a par 5 on Friday.
Scottie Scheffler’s best hope was to extend his streak of top 10s on the PGA Tour to 18. He had a bogey-free 67 that gave him one shot at the lead – he was still eight behind.
The prelude to Sunday could have come in the last hour: two groups finished two holes. Jacob Bridgeman, who shot 68 and was three behind, played from the beach on the 18th. Min Woo Lee (70) found himself in the hedges 75 yards across the fairway and ultimately decided to take a penalty drop on the cart path. And then his golf ball kept moving on his putt. It took about 50 minutes to play the hole.
Hisatsune, who had a 74, had to keep replacing his golf ball on the 18th green because it kept moving. He missed his 6-foot par putt and then waited more than 10 seconds because it looked like the wind might blow him into the cup.
No one expected a walk on the beach.
“It’s not always going to be pretty. Some crazy things are going to happen and you have to deal with that,” Knapp said. “I think anytime you come across bad elements and things like that, you just have to do a good job of not letting it irritate you.”
It’s a big opportunity for Knapp to secure a spot at the Masters and the rest of the year’s signature events. And it’s a big day for Morikawa, who once lost a reliable swing over the years.
He had big hopes to start 2026 and then missed the cut in Hawaii. But he felt he was on the right track, and a lap like this only builds confidence. He hit all 18 greens in regulation.
“I really focused on trying to build this momentum, just making it myself and it finally paid off today,” Morikawa said. “We definitely have some work to do tomorrow.”
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