PEBBLE BEACH — Akshay Bhatia surged into a six-shot lead early and then withstood strong winds and cold temperatures Saturday afternoon to hold on to a two-stroke lead over three players into the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Bhatia, tied with Ryo Hisatsune in the lead at 15-under and with a one-stroke cushion after two rounds, carded a 4-under 68 and moved to 19-under.
Jake Knapp, who had a 66, and Sepp Straka, who shot a 67, were joined by Collin Morikawa, who equaled the tournament’s low round with a 62.
“Yeah, it was a great start to the day,” said Bhatia. “It was blowing perfectly, say 10 to 15 (miles per hour). It was a similar direction we had in the practice round. I mean, we were hitting a bunch of different shots just for fun and actually to live it through the last couple of holes was pretty challenging.”
Bhatia had six birdies on the front nine and two bogeys on the back nine. With other finishers late in the round, Bhatia, whose most recent of two PGA Tour wins was the 2024 Valero Texas Open, moved away from his waving ball on the 18th green several times in the gusting winds.
“All in all, yeah, it was a weird day,” said Bhatia, who’s playing in his 100th career PGA Tour event. “I felt like I lost some ground toward the end, but then I realized, like dude, it just played so much harder for some of the guys that were in some of the last tee times.”
Morikawa, eight shots off the lead after three rounds, had 11 birdies, including four straight starting on the sixth hole. He bogeyed the 10th but then birdied four of the final six holes, including the 17th and 18th to further shrink Bhatia’s advantage.
“The ball was going where I wanted, putts were dropping when I needed them,” said Morikawa, whose last of six PGA Tour titles was a six-stroke win at the 2023 Zozo Championship in Japan. “I was just never going to get ahead of myself.”
Morikawa, the former Cal standout as well as the former world’s top-ranked amateur, has four second-place finishes since his last title.
“This game is stressful enough and I think I make it even more stressful for whatever reason,” he said. “But I was able to just really take it a shot at a time and just enjoy the round when I could.”
With rain forecast before 11 a.m. Sunday, PGA Tour officials advanced tee times one hour to 7:22 a.m. The final group is scheduled to start at 9:45 a.m.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had 5-under 67 with five birdies, including on the 18th.
“I feel like I’m close to doing some good stuff,” said Scheffler, who has finished in the top-10 in 17 consecutive tournaments including seven wins. “It’s just around this place, it’s challenging in some spots. It’s hard to tell how firm and how soft some of the greens have been.
“Most have been pretty soft, but there’s a few — there’s a shot I hit in today, it actually bounced forward with a wedge and I just couldn’t figure out how it happened.”
Scheffler, playing in his third AT&T, finished tied for sixth in 2024 and tied for ninth last year.
“I don’t want to rule anything out for myself,” said Scheffler. “You never want to limit yourself. I’d obviously like to be in a better position on the leaderboard. But yeah, with crazy weather, crazy things can happen and we’ll see what I can do tomorrow.”
Defending titlist Rory McIlroy, ranked No. 2, had six birdies. But his round unraveled with a triple bogey on the fourth hole. He sealed his 72 with a double bogey on the 18th, falling 22 positions and into a tie for 39th at 9 under.
Burns began the third round trailing the co-leaders, but he eagled the first hole. After a 223-yard drive on the par 4, Burns’ 156-yard second shot found the hole and moved him briefly into the lead at 16 under.
Hisatsune, who finished with a 74, and Bhatia began their rounds a few minutes later and quickly began posting birdies. Hisatsune birdied the second hole to tie Burns, but Bhatia birdied the first and second holes to move into a solo lead at 17 under.
Burns finished at even par and in a group at 14 under with Tommy Fleetwood, Min Woo Lee and Maverick McNealy.
If you go
The final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is scheduled to get underway at 7:22 Sunday morning, although inclement weather could delay the start, postpone or cancel the last round. Portions will be televised by the Golf Channel and CBS. For tickets and more information, visit www.attpbgolf.com.
James Raia is a former Herald staff member who has been a longtime sports correspondent for the paper. Reach him at james@jamesraia.com.
