When Young Guns Get Hot, Pebble Beach Becomes Their Proving Ground

There’s a moment in every emerging player’s career when you realize they’ve crossed a threshold. For Akshay Bhatia, that moment might be unfolding right now at Pebble Beach.

I’ve watched a lot of talent come through this tour over 35 years, and I’ve learned to recognize the difference between a hot week and genuine progression. What Bhatia is doing through 36 holes—sitting atop the leaderboard at 15-under with a bogey-free performance—falls into that latter category. After a shaky start to 2026 with back-to-back missed cuts, he found something in Phoenix last week with a T3 finish. But finding something and carrying it forward are two different animals entirely.

“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.”

Here’s what strikes me: Bhatia’s game this week isn’t just hot—it’s mechanically sound. He’s third in strokes gained on approach through two rounds, and more importantly, he’s been perfect on the greens (6-for-6 getting up-and-down) despite how finicky those small putting surfaces can be. That’s not luck. That’s a player who understands what Pebble Beach demands and is executing at an elite level. In my caddie days with Tom, I saw him dissect this course the same way—not by trying to do something spectacular, but by hitting the right clubs into the right spots and letting the course reward precision.

What’s equally fascinating is watching Ryo Hisatsune shadow him at 15-under. The young Japanese star has been on an absolute tear these past three weeks—T2 at Torrey Pines, T10 at Scottsdale, and now co-leading at Pebble Beach. That’s not a fluke either. That’s confidence building in real time. In my fifteen Masters coverages, I’ve seen this pattern before: a kid gets a taste of contending at the highest level, handles the pressure better than expected, and suddenly the leaderboards start looking different.

“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 narrative everyone wants to discuss, though, is Rickie Fowler’s revival. And fair’s fair—at 14-under after matching Bhatia’s 64 on Friday, Fowler’s positioning himself for his first win since 2023. But what’s more important than the win drought is what Fowler told us about his preparation. He played most of 2025 managing a shoulder injury, still scraped together a top-50 finish to lock in his tour status, and then took real time to heal. That’s not a story we celebrate enough on tour anymore—the patience of a veteran player who knows when to push and when to recover.

“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.”

In my experience, the Fowlers of the world—guys who’ve been through major ups and downs—often understand their own games better than the young hotshots. He’s currently leading the field in strokes gained on approach at 4.8. That’s not a stat you can fake when conditions tighten up, which they will.

The Weather Plot Twist

Here’s where this tournament gets genuinely interesting. The soft greens and light winds that have created a birdie bonanza through 36 holes are about to vanish. Forecasts call for 17-21 mph winds rolling in Saturday afternoon and continuing through Sunday, with rain added to the mix. This is where the tournament genuinely shifts.

The leaders—Bhatia and Hisatsune at 15-under—will have to hold their nerve while watching conditions deteriorate. But here’s the counterintuitive part: the chasers behind them (Burns at 14-under, Fowler also at 14, Lee and Straka at 12) might actually prefer difficult conditions if they’re ball-strikers. That’s why I’m more intrigued by Fowler’s trajectory than the odds might suggest. When things get ugly, elite iron play matters more than putter heat.

Speaking of which, Sam Burns is tied for third at 14-under, and yes, it’s because he’s been holing putts. But Burns is also a fundamentally sound player—he won’t fall apart in the wind like some of the streaky putters in this field.

The Bigger Picture

What I find most encouraging is the depth of this leaderboard. You’ve got Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick, Keegan Bradley, and Jordan Spieth all lurking at 10-under. Rory McIlroy is at 9-under as the defending champion, and even Scottie Scheffler, who’s nine shots back, has shown the ability to surge Friday after a rough Thursday.

That’s the health of professional golf right now. Yes, the young guys are ascending—Bhatia, Hisatsune, Burns—but the established elite are right there, ready to pounce. And in a week where the course is about to get cranky, experience might just trump hot putter.

Pebble Beach has a way of humbling even the best. But for these young players finding their game in real time, learning to win here would mean something special.