The 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am leaderboard is littered with the biggest names in golf, but after two rounds it’s Akshay Bhatia who holds a share of the lead heading into the weekend.
Bhatia has gone bogey-free around Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill over the first two days of play, following up a 65 at Pebble Beach on Thursday with an 8-under 64 at Spyglass Hill on Friday. Bhatia’s iron play has led the way, as is often the case for those that succeed on the small greens at Pebble Beach. He’s third in strokes gained on approach through the first two rounds.
The young lefty’s game has been sharp tee-to-green, and even when he’s had the occasional miss, he’s a perfect 6-for-6 getting up-and-down. That’s the recipe for success at this event, and as the professionals lose their amateur partners for the weekend and get to focus solely on playing Pebble Beach, Bhatia will look to continue his incredible ball-striking performance.
The light winds and soft greens on the California coast have created ideal scoring conditions, so even with a bogey-free performance so far, Bhatia has company at the top in the form of Ryo Hisatsune. The young Japanese star is continuing his stellar form early in the season, and while he did cool off a bit on Friday after his first-round 62 put him in another early lead, he was able to put together a solid 67 to remain in a share of the lead.
Leading the charge from the chase group is Rickie Fowler, who matched Bhatia’s 64 at Spyglass to get to 14 under heading into the weekend. Fowler is now in position to contend for his first victory since 2023, and is looking to continue a solid start to 2026.
Fowler hasn’t traditionally thrived at Pebble Beach, but he’s been the best player in the field this week with his irons, gaining 4.8 strokes on approach so far. The 37-year-old highlighted that he feels better physically this year than he did in 2025 when he battled a shoulder injury, but was able to secure a top-50 position and a spot in all of the Signature Events this year.
“My shoulder was bad all last year so I was just trying to manage and get through as best that I could. I definitely earned the time off with sneaking inside that top-50, so that was a nice bonus,” Fowler said. “So that was what I was trying to work towards to, like I said, earn that time off and then be able to get into a position where I could get the body in a better spot and go play this year.”
That extended time off certainly seems to have paid off with a pair of top 20s to start the season and now a late tee time on the weekend at Pebble Beach. Fowler will need to keep up the strong iron play on Saturday and Sunday if he’s going to contend for the win, but he’s been lights out attacking soft greens thus far.
The time to get the course was certainly the first two days, as the forecast calls for winds to pick up starting on Saturday afternoon and continue blowing 17-21 mph throughout Sunday’s final round — with some rain to add to the misery. For the leaders, that’ll make it a challenge to hold up in rapidly changing conditions, but it will also make it harder for the chase pack to go low around them.
The leaders
T1. Akshay Bhatia, Ryo Hisatsune (-15)
Bhatia had a rocky start to 2026 with a pair of missed cuts, but he found something in Phoenix last week with a T3 and has carried that form into Pebble Beach. A two-time winner on the PGA Tour, we’ve seen that when Bhatia gets hot, he can go on a tear. Given the scoring to start the week at Pebble Beach, that’ll be a must, as he’s going to need to keep the pedal down to pick up the biggest win of his young career.
Hisatsune meanwhile has been on a tear for the last three weeks, and he continues to build confidence in his ability to contend with the best. After a T2 at Torrey Pines and a T10 at TPC Scottsdale, he keeps putting himself in position and learning how to handle the nerves on the weekend. The putter has been leading the way this week, and he seems extremely comfortable on poa greens that can give some players fits. We’ll see if that holds up on the weekend, but a late tee time should feel like part of the routine after his last two weeks.
The challenge for both Bhatia and Hisatsune will be holding off the best field of the young season with the weather expected to shift dramatically over the course of the weekend.
Other contenders
T3. Rickie Fowler, Sam Burns (-14)
T5. Min Woo Lee, Sepp Straka, Jacob Bridgeman (-12)
T8. Tom Hoge, Jake Knapp (-11)
T10. Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick, Keegan Bradley, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and two others (-10)
T17. Rory McIlroy, Chris Gotterup, Tommy Fleetwood and two others (-9)
T34. Scottie Scheffler and 10 others (-6)
Burns joined Fowler at 14 under, and in news that will come as a surprise to no one, it’s a hot putter that has Burns in contention. Straka had a top 10 at Pebble last year and is in position to back that up again in 2026, joining Min Woo Lee in the top five.
The group at T10 features some big names, but even in a sea of other major winners, Spieth is the player most are watching with interest this weekend. We haven’t seen him anything close to his peak in some time, but any signs of life from the three-time major winner spark hope that he might be returning to top form.
A bit further off the pace is Chris Gotterup, who finally cooled off a touch and is going to need a big Saturday effort if he’s going to capture his third win of the young season. Defending champion Rory McIlroy is also at 9 under heading to the weekend, and will feel like he left a few shots out there on Friday that would’ve made him an even bigger threat to repeat.
Then there’s Scottie Scheffler, who is nine shots off the pace, but similar to last week in Phoenix, he bounced back from a rough Thursday to surge up the leaderboard with a Friday 66. He’ll need to produce something magical to get in the mix late on Sunday, but after almost pulling off a huge come from behind victory a week ago, it’s impossible to write him off.
Updated 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am odds, picks
- Akshay Bhatia (+340)
- Rickie Fowler (11/2)
- Ryo Hisatsune (11/2)
- Sam Burns (6-1)
- Sepp Straka (14-1)
- Min Woo Lee (16-1)
- Jake Knapp (20-1)
- Rory McIlroy (22-1)
- Jacob Bridgeman (22-1)
- Xander Schauffele (25-1)
If the winds pick up, this tournament could shift considerably, and it’s going to be critical for players to get out to fast starts in their third round before it becomes a battle to hang on through difficult weather on Sunday. I tend to trust those leaning on ball-striking over putting when things get tough, which points me to Fowler and Straka of the guys just off the lead. I also don’t hate sprinkling some of the pre-tournament favorites like McIlroy and Scheffler at longer odds, because there’s certainly the potential for the top of the leaderboard to come back a bit in tougher conditions the elite players may handle a bit better.