COLLIN MORIKAWA DROPPED SOME MASSIVE NEWS FOLLOWING HIS VICTORY AT PEBBLE BEACH

Collin Morikawa ended the drought and started a new chapter in life and his career at Pebble Beach.

Collin Morikawa poses with the trophy following his win at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

It was a monumental weekend for Collin Morikawa. Immediately after sinking his winning putt at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he announced that he and his wife, Katherine Zhu, are expecting their first child. Could this be a harbinger of what’s to come?

An emotional message to the fans, and his future baby, from Collin ❤️ pic.twitter.com/6uqTqLWSUQ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 15, 2026

When at his best, Morikawa is arguably the best ball-striker in the world. He has put that on display on the biggest stages before, winning both the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship.

Now, Morikawa has eight professional wins, but make no mistake: his most recent victory at Pebble Beach was his most triumphant. Before Sunday, Morikawa hadn’t won on the PGA Tour in over two years. For someone who burst onto the scene with multiple major championships early in his career, the absence from the winner’s circle caused some to question if he would ever return to elite form.

While the world No. 5 eventually showed he can still beat the best the PGA Tour has to offer, the tournament didn’t begin the way he had hoped. Morikawa had a relatively quiet start, playing alongside Sepp Straka and amateur Geoff Yang. On Thursday, he played it safe and carded a modest 69, leaving him tied for 39th.

His amateur partner helped the team score on Friday, but Morikawa himself didn’t move the needle much, shooting a 68 and climbing only eight spots to 31st place.

On Saturday, something shifted. With the amateur portion concluded and his coach, Rick Sessinghaus, urging him to be more aggressive, Morikawa exploded with a 10-under 62. He hit all 18 greens in regulation, and he didn't just hit them. He was tucking shots so close to the pin that many of his birdies were tap-ins. This historic round vaulted him into second place. 

On Sunday, Morikawa remained poised under pressure, battling Scottie Scheffler and Sepp Straka all afternoon. On the 15th hole, he drained a clutch 30-foot birdie putt, a massive moment for a player whose putting has long been considered his Achilles' heel.

He capped off the day by flushing a 235-yard 4-iron on the 18th, despite waiting nearly 30 minutes due to a rules issue in the group ahead. He tapped in to seal a one-shot victory at 22-under par.

Worth the wait 🏆

For the first time in 847 days, @Collin_Morikawa is a champion @ATTProAm. pic.twitter.com/suhXNQ4Nkz

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 15, 2026

It was a special weekend for the Southern California native in more ways than one. If Morikawa can maintain this blend of aggressive iron play and newfound putting confidence, there is literally and figuratively, new life in his career.

- Joe Dombro

OLYMPIC GOLF: STAR-STUDDED PAIRINGS FEATURE SCHEFFLER, MCILROY, RAHM, SCHAUFFELE

How about these Olympic men's golf pairings for the first two rounds?

The star-studded group of Scottie Scheffler (USA), Rory McIlroy (Ireland) and Ludvig Aberg (SWE) will tee off together at 4:11 a.m. Eastern time (10:11 a.m. locally) on Thursday and 12:06 p.m. locally on Friday.

In other featured groups: Xander Schauffele (USA) will play alongside Viktor Hovland (Norway) and Jon Rahm (Spain) at 11:55 a.m. locally Thursday.

Collin Morikawa (USA) is in the Thursday 12:06 p.m. pairing with local French favorite Matthieu Pavon (France) and Matt Fitzpatrick (Great Britain) in a group that should enjoy a raucous following at Le Golf National.

And Wyndham Clark (USA) will play at 9:44 a.m. locally Thursday alongside Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) and Tommy Fleetwood (Great Britain).

 – Gentry Estes

DECHAMBEAU A ONE-MAN SHOW AT PINEHURST NO.2 AND LEADS US OPEN BY 3

AP Photo 

 PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) — Bryson DeChambeau ducked outside the ropes to a private area in the woods, flat on his back as trainers worked on hips that felt too tight. Moments later, he unleashed a swing that sent his drive 347 yards, leaving a wedge to set up birdie and another fist pump.

DeChambeau delivered power, birdies and endless entertainment Saturday in the U.S. Open. He turned Pinehurst No. 2 into a one-man show with a 3-under 67 and built a three-shot lead as he moved closer to another U.S. Open title.

“Just going to say it. Tomorrow it’s the same quote I’ve said all week: Trying to have boring golf," DeChambeau said. “Middle of the greens never moves.”

There was little boring about his performance before a sunbaked and delirious gallery at Pinehurst that ended a sweltering day by chanting his name. He has always loved the attention from fans, even more when they love him back.

“Yeah, it was amazing. I can’t thank them enough. It was a blessing,” he said. “Man, they riled me up.”

The feeling was clearly mutual.

At stake is a chance to capture a second U.S. Open title with a reimagined game — still powerful as ever — and a physique that isn't quite the “Incredible Bulk” he was at Winged Foot in 2020.

Still ahead is a final round with Rory McIlroy (69), Patrick Cantlay (70) and Matthieu Pavon (69) three shots behind and all looking capable of giving him a run for the silver trophy.

“I love the test that Pinehurst is presenting, and you’ve got to focus and concentrate on every single shot out there,” McIlroy said. “It’s what a U.S. Open should be like. It’s obviously great to be in the mix.”

DeChambeau, a runner-up by one shot last month in the PGA Championship with another top 10 at the Masters in April, was at 7-under 203. He is the only player to post three straight rounds of 60s in a U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

Ludvig Aberg, the super Swede who started the third round with a one-shot lead, fell victim to the slick, domed greens to make a triple bogey on the 13th hole that sent him to a 73 and left him five shots back along with Hideki Matsuyama (70).

DeChambeau said it was “two hips that are not fantastic” from his speed training that led him to ask for a trainer and get worked on in the woods after the 10th hole.

He went to the 11th, belted a 347-yard drive, hit wedge safely to the center of the green and made a putt from just outside 12 feet to become the first player to reach 7 under all week.

With the tee slightly forward on the 13th, he wished aloud to have a go at the green, figured it wasn't practical and said to the gallery, “Don't boo me,” as he reached for iron. He missed the fairway into a bunker and sent his approach dancing by the cup.

He missed that 6-footer for birdie, but picked up birdie on the 14th and led by as many as four shots. But he wasn't immune from a big number, just like so many others.

DeChambeau's shot to the 16th rolled off the front of the green. His chip was too weak and returned toward his previous shot. His next pitch was only slightly better and he missed the putt to make double bogey. But he answered with a pitching wedge that narrowly cleared the fearsome bunker right of the par-3 17th and holed a 12-foot putt.

Pavon, a winner at Torrey Pines in his first year playing the PGA Tour, joined DeChambeau as the only players to avoid a round over par this week. He saved one par from in front of a wiregrass brush and attacked pins when he could to get into the final group.

“I’m not scared about taking the shots. I’ve never been scared about taking the shots,” he said.

McIlroy and Cantlay, adversaries in the Ryder Cup and in the PGA Tour board room, will be in the penultimate group. They stayed in different ways.

McIlroy began to soar early on the back nine by riding some good putting — a 10-foot birdie on the 12th, a key par save from 6 feet on the 13th, a wedge to tap-in range on the 14th and another huge par save on the 16th.

But he dropped two shots on the par 3s and was farther back than he would have wanted. Still, it's a chance. He famously said last year when he was runner-up at the U.S. Open, “I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”

He's right there with another chance to end a decade without a major.

And so is Cantlay, who delivered a strong putting performance of his own. Cantlay missed all some of good birdie chances he had, but he stayed in the game with five par-saving putts of 7 feet or longer. He also poured in a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th that kept him in range.

“I feel like I'm in a good spot,” Cantlay said.

Pinehurst was sweltering for the second straight day, with a heat index near 100 degrees (38 Celsius) and brown splotches of grass making the No. 2 course look fast and terrifying.

The third round began with 15 players under par, and it was reduced to eight players going into the final, demanding test of the major that rewards only the cleanest golf.

Collin Morikawa remarkably had a bogey-free round with a 66 that took him from a tie to 51st to just inside the top 10.

No one who played early managed to make a move. The course is so demanding that it exposes anyone not on the top of his game. That includes Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player who had to settle for a 71. It was his fourth straight round over par dating to Sunday at the Memorial, the first time he has had a stretch like that in his career.

- DOUG FERGUSON

SCHEFFLER HOLDS ON TO WIN MEMORIAL FOR HIS 5TH PGA TOUR TITLE OF THE YEAR

AP

 DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Winning has become a habit for Scottie Scheffler, except there was nothing typical about his victory Sunday at the Memorial.

He made only one birdie. He closed with a 2-over 74, his highest final round in two years. And victory wasn't assured until Scheffler had the mettle to put a firm stroke on a downhill putt from 5 feet above the hole to take out the break.

It went right in the heart for a one-shot victory over Collin Morikawa, and a handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus. Their exchange said it all.

“You're a survivor,” Nicklaus told him.

“Thanks,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, you made this place brutal today.”

Scheffler endured more stress than he wanted and got the victory everyone has come to expect, his fifth of the season — one week into the month of June — as he heads for another tough test next week in the U.S. Open.

Muirfield Village was so demanding with its ultra firm greens and swirling gusts throughout the afternoon that only six players broke par and the average score was a fraction under 75.

Scheffler, who started four shots ahead, never lost the lead. He never felt safe, either, not with Morikawa and Adam Hadwin on his heels all afternoon, and on a back nine where making par felt like hard work. Par is what it took on the 18th hole.

“This is a tough place to close out,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t do a whole lot great today, but I did enough.”

Just barely.

Scheffler was leading Morikawa by one shot and both hit approach shots that bounced hard and high off the green and into the rough. Both chipped to about 5 feet. Scheffler buried his putt to win, and the force of his fist pump to celebrate showed how tough this day was on him, and practically everybody.

Making the day even more special was a recent memory with Nicklaus at the Memorial, and cradling month-old son Bennett at his newborn's first PGA Tour event.

Scheffler thought back to 2021, when he missed a 6-foot putt on the final hole that ended any chance of a playoff. Walking off the green, he recalls Nicklaus telling him one day Scheffler will make the putt on 18 “and I'll be walking off to shake his hand.”

“It was pretty special thinking about that as I was walking over to shake his hand," he said.

Morikawa, who played in the final group of both majors this year, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole and stayed on Scheffler's heels the rest of the way. He shot 71, the only one from the final 13 groups to break par.

Adam Hadwin was right there with them until closing with three straight bogeys for a 74 to finish alone in third.

Scheffler finished at 8-under 280 and won $4 million from this signature event and its $20 million purse. That pushes him over $24 million for the year, breaking the PGA Tour season earnings record — and it's barely June — that he set last year in this era of rising purses.

He also become the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to have won five times on the PGA Tour before the U.S. Open.

That's next week at Pinehurst No. 2, and Scheffler will go to the U.S. Open as a huge favorite. This was his 11th consecutive tournament with a top 10.

Morikawa picked up $2.2 million and now has a big cushion as he tries to sew up the fourth spot for the Americans going to Paris this summer for the Olympics.

Hadwin was within one shot of the lead until finishing the front nine with a pair of bogeys. He stayed in the hunt until closing with a pair of bogeys for a 74. Still, his third-place finish moves him ahead of Corey Conners for the second Canadian spot in the Olympics.

The world ranking after the U.S. Open determines who goes to Paris.

Scheffler had only one birdie — a 10-foot putt on the sixth hole — and he missed two birdie chances inside 10 feet on the back nine that could have provided a cushion.

But he made the biggest one on the par-3 16th.

Scheffler and Morikawa were both short of the super slick green some 90 feet away. Scheffler used putter and hit it weakly, coming up 15 feet short. Morikawa chipped from the collar and also hit a pedestrian chip some 20 feet short.

Morikawa missed his par putt, and Scheffler buried his for a two-shot lead.

Scheffler dropped his final shot on the 17th, however, and he was clinging again to a one-shot lead playing the tough 18th that he ended with one last putt.

Next up is the so-called toughest test in golf, and players felt like they just got finished with one at Muirfield Village.

“You could look at it one of two ways,” Hadwin said. “Either it's good prep for next week or we just got our butts kicked before going into next week.”

For Scheffler it's another victory, his 11th of his career and 12th worldwide. He has finished strong to win big or come from behind. He has pulled away when it was tight at the start. This time, he nearly lost a four-shot lead.

It was his highest closing round since a 74 in the British Open at St. Andrews in 2022. But it goes in the book as another big win against the strongest fields. He now has won three signature events (Bay Hill and Hilton Head were the others) to go along with The Players Championship and his second green jacket at the Masters.

- DOUG FERGUSON

MASTERS CHAMP SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER POSTS A 63 AND LEADS THE RBC HERITAGE BY 1 SHOT

AP Photo 

 HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler drilled his opening tee shot — straight down the middle, of course — with a grandstand packed with spectators behind him. What got his attention was when he looked back from the green and saw that it was empty.

Thousands of fans didn't want to miss the Masters champion on Saturday in the RBC Heritage, and Scheffler didn't disappoint.

His shots were like lasers into the greens as he quickly worked his way into the lead and stayed there. One last birdie on the 18th hole at Harbour Town gave Scheffler a bogey-free 63 and a one-shot lead over Sepp Straka.

“It felt to me like the crowd was coming with me today, and there was definitely a lot of cheers out there,” Scheffler said. “I’ve always enjoyed playing in front of a crowd. It may not look like I’m paying much attention to them out there, but I can feel their energy, and it’s great to have the support.”

He won a green jacket last week, perhaps a plaid jacket from Harbour Town this week. Scheffler wasn't kidding when he talked about how much he hates to lose.

At stake Sunday is a fourth win in his last five starts, and a chance to become the first player since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the Masters and the next PGA Tour stop on the schedule. The only other Masters champion to do that was Gary Player in 1978.

“I think when I’m playing my best, sometimes it feels like I’m competing against myself a little bit out there, trying to keep pushing and stay as focused as I can,” Scheffler said.

“At the end of the day, we're out here competing against the best players in the world. I love competing against these guys, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of coming out and competing tomorrow.”

Scheffler was at 16-under 197. Straka made a 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a 65 to get within one shot. They will be in the final group Sunday, with a different wind and thunderstorms in the forecast.

Two-time major Collin Morikawa made one mistake late, coming up short of the 16th green and missing a 10-foot par putt. He had a 68 and was two shots behind. Masters runner-up Ludvig Aberg (68) was among those three shots back.

All of them are chasing the No. 1 player in the world in the midst of a dominant stretch of golf not seen since Tiger Woods in his prime.

Scheffler has gone 51 consecutive holes at par or better at Harbour Town. He posted his 39th consecutive round at par or better dating to the Tour Championship last August.

“I think we all expect him to play well, and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Aberg said. “All I try to do is focus on myself and make sure that I hit the shots the way I want to and then see where that takes me.”

Scheffler started three shots behind and already was tied for the lead with a tee shot to a pin at the back right corner of the 221-yard seventh hole, converting a 10-foot birdie.

Even the bad breaks led to birdies. On the reachable par-4 ninth, his drive stopped short of the bunker on a down slope of grass, leaving him a flop shot to a short pin with the green running away from him. All he could manage was a pitch to 35 feet. He rammed home the birdie putt, and never really stopped until finishing with a 7-foot birdie on the 18th.

For a moment, it was setting up as a duel with Aberg, the Swedish stud who has been a pro for 10 months and already is regarded as Scheffler's biggest threat because he never seems to miss. But he missed a drive on the 12th into the trees and made bogey to fall out of a share of the lead, and Aberg had to settle for pars the rest of the way.

The crowds were particularly large in the warm and sunshine, often lining the entire fairway two- and three-deep to watch golf's newest sensation. Scheffler has three wins and a runner-up finish in his last four tournaments.

The only player to beat him was Stephan Jaeger by one shot in the Houston Open — Scheffler missed a 5-foot putt that would have forced a playoff. They played together for the first time since then and Jaeger held his own with a 67.

Against Scheffler these days, that's just not enough.

Scheffler wasn't entirely prepared for this week. Winning can be draining, even more when it involves a Masters green jacket. He flew home to Dallas on Sunday night, spent two days with his pregnant wife, managed nine holes of a pro-am at Harbour Town and here he is again.

Patrick Rodgers is the only player within five shots of Scheffler who has yet to win on the PGA Tour. The former Stanford star has felt his game was in a good place and he was hopeful of getting another chance. And then he saw Scheffler's name starting to rise on the scoreboards as he was starting his round. Rodgers hung in there with a 68.

“It feels inevitable at this point,” Rodgers said. “His ball-striking is incredible. For me to have a chance tomorrow, I’m going to have to play 18 great holes. And I’m looking forward to the challenge."

- DOUG FERGUSON

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MICKELSON, MORIKAWA MISS OPEN CUT, SMITH JUST MAKES IT

Reuters

Americans Phil Mickelson and Collin Morikawa were among former champions to miss the cut in the British Open at Hoylake on Friday.

Defending champion Cameron Smith was in danger of joining them but the Australian played a superb six iron to he final green and holed an eagle that sent him through to the weekend action.

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