PEBBLE BEACH - Collin Morikawa brings abundant history in Northern California.
Four-time All-American at Cal. U.S. Open participant at Pebble Beach at age 22. First-time major winner at Harding Park at 23.
So why did Saturday's dazzling journey around Pebble feel so … unexpected?
Morikawa tumbled out of golf's highest echelon the past few years, falling from No. 2 to No. 19 in the world ranking. The most recent of his six PGA Tour victories came in October 2023, nearly 2½ years ago. He missed the cut and tied for 54th in his first two starts this year.
And then, without warning, Morikawa shot 62 in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He made 11 birdies and one bogey, launching laser-beam approach shots close to the hole time after precise time.
It was a spectacular performance curiously reminiscent of Morikawa in his early 20s, when he burst into prominence.
"I'm very hard on myself," he said. "Very, very hard. I can get down on myself pretty quickly. … But I've been really focused on just trying to build momentum, and it finally paid off today."
Morikawa, now 29, soared into a tie for second place at 17-under-par for the week. He, Sepp Straka and Jake Knapp trail leader Akshay Bhatia by two strokes heading into Sunday's final round, which should be extraordinarily challenging given the forecast of rain and high winds.
Stanford alum Maverick McNealy also planted himself in contention by posting 63 on Saturday. McNealy will begin the final round at 14-under, five shots behind Bhatia.
Morikawa once counted as the Next Big Thing in golf. He won three times in his first 15 months as a professional, including the PGA Championship in San Francisco in August 2020. That happened in the thick of the pandemic, when Morikawa surged down the stretch to win in a profoundly strange, spectator-free environment at Harding.
Less than a year later, he won another major at the British Open. Not many 24-year-olds have two major titles on their resume. Morikawa seemed primed for an extended run of stardom.
But his ascent soon stalled. Maybe he didn't hit the ball far enough off the tee (136th on tour last year in driving distance), or maybe his unreliable putting held him back (156th last year in strokes gained-putting).
"The last three years, whatever you want to call it, I just haven't had the results I've wanted," Morikawa said. "But I know I'm making the right strides. I know I'm inching in the right direction."
He remains one of the world's best iron players, as he's showing this week on the Monterey Peninsula. Morikawa ranks No. 1 in the 80-man field in strokes gained on approach shots, and he hit all 18 greens in regulation Saturday.
It doesn't hurt that he counts as one of the fan favorites, considering his Bay Area ties. Morikawa seldom played Pebble Beach during his time at Cal, but the AT&T galleries are fully aware of his background.
"NorCal feels like a second home," said Morikawa, who grew up outside Los Angeles. "You get a lot of ‘Go Bears! ' out there, a lot of people rooting me on. … I would have never even dreamt as a kid that I'd be shooting 62 at Pebble Beach, so that's pretty special."
(For the record, Wyndham Clark set the course record by shooting 60 in the AT&T two years ago.)
Morikawa needed a low number to vault himself into contention, because the conditions have been conducive to scoring the past three days. Rain earlier in the week softened the greens and made them receptive to approach shots, allowing players to fire away without fear of the ball bouncing into unwelcome spots.
As he put it, the rain took "a lot of the nastiness" out of Pebble.
Bhatia, a 24-year-old with two PGA Tour wins, took advantage by making birdies on six of his first seven holes Saturday. He cooled down thereafter, with no birdies over his last 11 holes.
Do not expect similar scoring binges in Sunday's final round, with messy conditions on tap. A storm is expected to hit in the late morning or early afternoon, including wind gusts reaching 30 to 35 mph.
Golfers hate wind, because it toys with their need to control the ball. As they left the course Saturday, they were all acutely aware of the challenge ahead.
"It's gonna suck out there," Morikawa said.
This article originally published at Remember Collin Morikawa? Cal alum fires 62 at Pebble Beach, climbs into contention.