{"id":470044,"date":"2026-02-15T11:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/470044\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T11:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T11:42:11","slug":"akshay-bhatia-leads-with-high-winds-and-rain-forecast-for-sunday-at-pebble-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/470044\/","title":{"rendered":"Akshay Bhatia leads with high winds and rain forecast for Sunday at Pebble Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Pebble Beach started to show a nasty side Saturday with wind that wobbled golf balls on the greens<\/a> in chilly Pacific air. Akshay Bhatia did enough early with six birdies in seven holes that carried him to a 4-under 68 and a two-shot lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.<\/p>\n

But the worst might still be to come.<\/p>\n

Starting times were moved up one hour for the final round<\/a> with a forecast of big wind and rain, a time for players to hang on by the seat of their rain pants.<\/p>\n

Low scores were still available. Collin Morikawa, the two-time major champion trying to end more than two years without a victory, had 11 birdies in his round of 62 that shot him up 25 spots on the leaderboard to a three-way tie for second with Jake Knapp (66) and Sepp Straka (67).<\/p>\n

Bhatia began the third round in a share of the lead with Ryo Hisatsune and threatened to turn it into a runaway. The recipe for Pebble when wind isn\u2019t howling \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t to start the day \u2014 is to take advantage of the opening seven holes. Bhatia followed that script beautifully with six birdies, only one of them outside 10 feet. He led by as many as five shots.<\/p>\n

He made it through 47 holes of this signature event until his first bogey when the strengthening wind sent his tee shot well over the green on the par-3 12th. He dropped another shot on the par-3 17th when the wind knocked down his shot into the bunker and he missed a 4-foot putt.<\/p>\n

He went out in 30 and came in 38, exactly what Pebble Beach can do with wind. Even so, Bhatia was at 19-under 197.<\/p>\n

Even without the \u201cCelebrity Saturday\u201d from the old AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am days \u2014 this is the third year of the old Clambake becoming a buttoned-up signature event \u2014 there was no shortage of entertainment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

‘Absolute carnage’: Pebble Beach winds wreak havoc at end of Round 3<\/p>\n

Golf Central recaps the playing conditions at the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. During the final hour of play, winds reached as high as 30 miles per hour as players finished the third round.<\/p>\n

Knapp, the smooth-swinging Southern Californian, started and finished with an eagle. He holed out from 130 yards<\/a> on the par-4 first hole, and he rode the wind for an approach to 12 feet for eagle on the par-5 18th.<\/p>\n

Sam Burns also holed out for eagle to start his day<\/a>, temporarily giving him the lead. He didn\u2019t finish with an eagle, but it was no less surprising \u2014 a shot from the greenside bunker off the video board behind the green, then a chip that rattled the pin and dropped for birdie.<\/p>\n

Burns salvaged a 72 and was five behind with a group that included Tommy Fleetwood (67) and Maverick McNealy (63).<\/p>\n

Defending champion Rory McIlroy was 10 shots behind, and he can count five holes that put that that far back. He had a triple bogey (drive onto the beach at No. 4) and a double bogey (drive out-of-bounds to the right on No. 18<\/a>) 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 bogey on a par 5 on Friday.<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler\u2019s best hope was to extend his streak of top 10s on the PGA Tour to 18. He had a bogey-free 67 that allowed him to gain one shot on the lead \u2014 he was still eight behind.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"AT&T<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler has made the top 10 in 17 consecutive PGA Tour tournaments, a streak that could be broken at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The No. 1-ranked player won\u2019t go quietly though. Scheffler posted a bogey-free 67 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The prelude to Sunday might have come in the last hour \u2014 two groups finishing two holes. Jacob Bridgeman, who shot 68 and was three behind, played from the beach on the 18th. Min Woo Lee (70) was 75 yards across the fairway in the hedges, finally decided to take a penalty drop on the cart path. And then his golf ball kept moving on his putt. It took some 50 minutes to play the hole.<\/p>\n

Hisatsune, who had a 74, kept having to replace 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 as though the wind might blow it into the cup.<\/p>\n

No one was expecting a walk on the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be pretty at all times. You\u2019re going to have some funky stuff happen and just have to deal with it,\u201d Knapp said. \u201cI think anytime you get bad elements and stuff like that you just have to do a good job of not letting it bug you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big chance for Knapp to earn a spot to the Masters and the rest of the signature events for the year. And it\u2019s a big day for Morikawa, who once reliable swing has gone missing over the years.<\/p>\n

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 round like this only builds confidence. He hit all 18 greens in regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been really focused on just trying to build this momentum, just making it myself and it\u2019s finally paid off today,\u201d Morikawa said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some work tomorrow, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Pebble Beach started to show a nasty side Saturday with wind that wobbled golf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-470044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}