AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am R3: Akshay Bhatia opens up two-shot lead

Akshay Bhatia will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The 24-year-old American came racing out of the blocks at Pebble Beach on Saturday, making six birdies on his front nine. 

But he began to struggle with the windy conditions on the back, making seven pars and two bogeys to sign for a four under 68. 

Bhatia is on 20 under par overall, two clear of Collin Morikawa, Sepp Straka and Jake Knapp. 

England's Tommy Fleetwood and last week's runner-up, Hideki Matsuyama, are also in the top 10 with 18 holes remaining. 

Morikawa is searching for his first victory in more than three years. 

The US golfer last entered the winner's circle at the 2023 ZOZO Championship in Japan. 

Morikawa came close to winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational last March but was caught down the stretch by Russell Henley. 

"Look, I'm very hard on myself," said Morikawa. 

"Like I think we all are, but I'm very, very hard. 

"You ask anyone on my team, like I can get down on myself pretty quickly because I know there's just really fine margins out here. 

"And I want to go back not necessarily to the player I was but just kind of use everything I've learned over the last six, seven years and just put that into, you know, the golfer I am today.

"It's very hard to do, it really is, because if one thing's off, then it might lead you astray, you might work on one thing.

"But I've been really focused on just trying to, you know, build this momentum, this idea of momentum and just making it myself and it's finally paid off today. 

"We've got some work tomorrow, for sure."

Defending champion Rory McIlroy made a double bogey on the final hole for a 72 after hitting his tee shot out of bounds. 

The Northern Irishman is way down the leaderboard in a tie for 39th in the 80-man field. 

The top-ranked Scottie Scheffler carded a bogey-free five-under 67 but appears to be out of contention on 11 under. 

"I mean, I don't want to rule anything out for myself," Scheffler said, who is chasing his 17th consecutive top 10 finish. 

"You never want to limit yourself. I'd obviously like to be in a better position on the leaderboard. 

"But yeah, with crazy weather, crazy things can happen and we'll see what I can do tomorrow."

The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is the first signature event of the 2026 season. 

It has a total prize purse of $20m and the winner will receive $3.6m.

Final round tee times have been brought forward due to the threat of inclement weather.