One of the hottest players in the world over the last two weeks could not be extinguished on Thursday at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Ryo Hisatsune continued to stoke the flame in his opening round of the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, signing for a bogey-free, 10-under 62 to grab the early lead in the first signature event of the season.
Hisatsune’s 62 represents his lowest career round on the PGA Tour, and it comes in his tournament debut at Pebble Beach. His previous low of 63 came just last weekend at the WM Phoenix Open, where he finished in a share of 10th place. The young man from Japan rolled in more than 150 feet of putts and even chipped in for birdie on the par-4 16th to start a run of three straight into the clubhouse.
His lead going into Friday, where he will play at Spyglass Hill, is just a single stroke over American Sam Burns, who was similarly on fire on the greens en route to his 63. Keegan Bradley came in late at the same number as he missed a chance on his last hole to tie the course record on Spyglass. Burns just barely led the field in strokes gained putting on Thursday, gaining more than five strokes with the wand in hand. Hisatsune cleared more than five strokes on the greens as well.
“Anytime you can go bogey-free, regardless of where you’re playing, is always a good thing, and especially to do it around here,” Burns said. “It was nice. I made a significant amount of putts and feel like I was hitting it pretty nice. It was a good combination for today. The weather was perfect, so we were just trying to enjoy the day.”
Pebble Beach played nearly four strokes under par in Round 1, while Spyglass Hill played roughly two strokes more difficult.
While conditions were ripe for the taking, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler struggled yet again in the opening refrain. One week after starting his tournament with a 73, his first over-par round since June 2025, the four-time major champion signed for a 72 to fall 10 strokes off the pace — the same deficit he faced after 18 holes at the WM Phoenix Open.
Over on Spyglass Hill, Bradley was the low man with a stellar 9-under performance. The most recent U.S. Ryder Cup captain appears to have found something, while Jordan Spieth showed signs of life with a bogey-free 66. Meanwhile, last year’s champion, Rory McIlroy, ran into some speed bumps on the greens and signed for a 68 to open up his title defense despite a pair of double bogeys.
Leader
1. Ryo Hisatsune (-10): The experience is beginning to stack up for the 23-year-old. Hisatsune was a member of the final group at Torrey Pines on Sunday, where he finished runner-up to Justin Rose, and he was in the final group on Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open alongside his golf hero, Hideki Matsuyama, before ultimately cashing a top 10 finish. Playing with serious confidence, the right-hander wielded the putter effectively in Round 1, cashing putts from 42, 31, 17, 16, 13 and 12 feet. He noted that he loves putting on these poa annua putting surfaces, but his ball-striking will need to improve over the next 54 holes if he is to turn this momentum into his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Contenders
T2. Sam Burns, Keegan Bradley (-9)
T4. Chris Gotterup, Tony Finau, Patrick Rodgers (-8)
T7. Nick Taylor, Akshay Bhatia, Andrew Novak, Tom Hoge (-7)
T11. Russell Henley, Jake Knapp, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka, Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Mackenzie Hughes (-6)
Lot of big names on the first and second pages of the leaderboard, including Gotterup, who has already won twice this season, but it is hard not to notice what Spieth accomplished on Spyglass. Not only did he hole out for eagle on the par-4 9th, he also managed his way around the par 72 without dropping a shot, maintaining the momentum he had garnered. The reason? Spieth’s putting from close range. Typically good for one miss from near distance, Spieth was solid inside 10 feet and added makes from 14 and 12 feet, the latter coming on the last hole to save par and maintain his bogey-free round.
“I thought I was really good on and around the greens,” Spieth said. “I actually didn’t hit many greens for how kind of well I thought I was swinging the club. I pulled a few kind of the wrong clubs. It’s easy to do out here. You can pull a club you think’s going to go far enough, and it just doesn’t go anywhere here. So I’ve got to get a little tighter on some of that decision making, but when I got into trouble, I got out of trouble.
“Obviously, holing a wedge shot was probably the highlight of the day. But I just really plotted my way around. When I missed, I missed in the right spot. I’d like to get a little bit tighter as we go around Pebble, but at Spyglass 6 under may be the best I ever shot around here, so, very pleased.”
Scheffler’s struggles
For the second straight week, Scheffler will attempt to mount a comeback from 10 strokes down across the final 54 holes of a tournament. While at the WM Phoenix Open he was upended by one hour out of an otherwise decent round, Scheffler’s first round at Pebble Beach was more of a slow bleed. He missed birdie chances from 8 feet on Nos. 1-2, connected from that distance on No. 4 and then gave it back from 4 feet on No. 5. A birdie flew onto his scorecard on the par-5 6th after nearly finding the surface in two, but that was his last birdie until the last hole of the day.
In between them, Scheffler continued to struggle with the putter — he missed a par putt from just inside 3 feet on No. 12 — but it was the iron play that was uncharacteristically poor. He lost about 2.50 strokes on approach, ranked 73rd in the 80-man field in that category and failed to give himself looks from hole high consistently — a rarity in his game.
2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am updated odds, picks
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
- Keegan Bradley: 8-1
- Chris Gotterup: 19/2
- Sam Burns: 10-1
- Ryo Hisatsune: 13-1
- Matt Fitzpatrick: 17-1
- Rory McIlroy: 17-1
- Jake Knapp: 18-1
- Patrick Rodgers: 18-1
For those wondering, Scheffler is listed at 35-1, a far cry from the 3-1 price tag at tournament open. No suggestion either way here, but a 65 seems certain on Friday. McIlroy may ultimately be the guy, though, as he left so many strokes out there on the greens and still managed to beat the scoring average on Spyglass by a couple of strokes. The return to his blades looked like a smart move, at least on Thursday.