TGD Newswire – This Week In Golf – Morikawa Ends a 28-Month Drought, Then Announces He’s Going to Be a Father (Feb 15, 2026)
Collin Morikawa won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, his first PGA Tour title since the 2023 Zozo Championship — a drought stretching back roughly 850 days. He closed it out with a birdie on the par-5 18th, then used his winner’s interview to share news that had nothing to do with golf: he and his wife, Kat, are expecting their first child later this year.
How the Week Unfolded
Morikawa entered the final round two shots back and turned in one of the best closing stretches of his career: a 30-footer on 15, an 8-footer on 16, and a clutch 4-iron approach from 235 yards on 18 that carried over the ocean wall and let the wind bring it back toward the green, setting up a two-putt birdie from the fringe to seal a one-shot win at 22-under. He beat a crowded leaderboard that included Min Woo Lee and Sepp Straka, both finishing one shot back, in the first signature event of the 2026 season.
Scottie Scheffler put together his own charge worth remembering — down as many as 13 shots on Friday, the World No. 1 played his first seven holes of the final round in 7-under and made three eagles on the day to force his way into a share of fourth, keeping his streak of top-10 finishes alive in the process.
What the Win Means
This is Morikawa’s seventh career PGA Tour title, his first win on U.S. soil since 2021, and his first-ever win in a signature event specifically. For a two-time major champion, a 28-month winless stretch had started to raise real questions about where his game stood relative to his early-career peak. This win — against arguably the strongest field of the young season — answers those questions directly rather than incrementally.
The Announcement
Morikawa’s postround interview turned personal fast: he and Kat had only started telling people that week, and he said there was no better way to share the news with the world than by winning. It’s the kind of moment that reframes an entire result — not just a title defended or a drought broken, but a career milestone arriving in the same week as a major life one.
Why It Matters
Morikawa heads to his hometown Genesis Invitational the following week with real momentum for the first time in over two years, jumping to No. 5 in the world and third in the FedEx Cup standings. For a player whose talent was never in question, breaking through in a signature event — with this much on the line personally — is the kind of result that can restart a career’s trajectory rather than just add a line to the record book.
Sources: NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, Local News Matters, Pro Golf Weekly, KPMG
