Ryo Hisatsune of Japan made 158 feet of putts on his way to a 10-under-par 62 to take the first-round lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first signature event of 2026, on Thursday in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Compared to the field, Hisatsune lost strokes both off the tee and on approach. But his short game allowed him to make 10 birdies without a bogey at Pebble Beach Golf Links and finish his round with three birdies in a row. He carries a one-shot lead into Friday over Sam Burns (63, Pebble Beach) and Keegan Bradley (63, Spyglass Hill).
The field is playing one round apiece at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course before spending the weekend rounds at Pebble Beach. There is no 36-hole cut at the $20 million signature event.
Hisatsune’s early highlights with the flatstick included a 28 1/2-foot birdie putt at No. 3 followed by a 39-foot birdie roll at No. 4. He chipped in from the greenside rough at No. 16 for the first of his closing trio of birdies.
“I like these greens. I like a poa (annua) green, like much easier,” Hisatsune said. “Feeling like more comfortable to playing these greens. Yeah, feeling like yeah, that’s why I can feeling more comfortable. Very lucky.”
Hisatsune, 23, qualified for the tournament via the Aon Swing 5 rankings, having earned enough FedEx Cup points in the first few weeks of the season to play his way in. Hisatsune tied for second at the Farmers Insurance Open and tied for 10th at last week’s WM Phoenix Open.
Bradley’s 11-foot putt for eagle at the par-5 seventh hole anchored his bogey-free round, the best of the day at Spyglass.
“(At No. 6) I hit a 9-iron to about two, three feet, which is never easy out here, then made that,” Bradley said. “And then hit a 5-wood to about 15 feet, made that for eagle. And then made a long one from the fringe on 8 and off to the races.”
Back at Pebble Beach, Burns shot a 7-under 29 on the back nine to surge up the leaderboard. He made 158 feet, 9 inches of putts on his round — beating Hisatsune’s mark by 9 inches.
“It was nice, I made a significant amount of putts and feel like I was hitting it pretty nice,” Burns said. “It was a good combination for today.”
Tony Finau and Patrick Rodgers shot 8-under 64s at Spyglass Hill and Chris Gotterup opened with the same score at Pebble Beach. Gotterup, who birdied his first six holes of the day, is the surprising early leader of the FedEx Cup race as he already has notched two victories this year, the Sony Open in Hawaii and the Phoenix Open.
“I was kind of just coasting along,” Gotterup said. “You don’t really realize it in the moment and then when you look up, you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m 6 under through six, that’s nice.’”
Akshay Bhatia, Andrew Novak and Tom Hoge (Pebble Beach) are tied at 7-under 65 along with Canada’s Nick Taylor (Spyglass Hill). Jordan Spieth shot a 66 at Spyglass Hill, featuring a hole-out eagle at the par-4 18th.
In his first start in the U.S. this year, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy posted a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill. The defending champion’s roller-coaster card featured one eagle and two double bogeys at the par-3 third and fifth holes.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler got off to a slow start, birdieing the final hole to salvage an even-par 72 at Pebble Beach. He rallied from an opening-round 73 last week in Phoenix to finish in a tie for third, so Scheffler has something recent to draw from.
“Around these places you never know what the weather’s going to turn out to be like,” he said. “I’ll need a little bit of help up there from the weather. If we get a few more days like this, it’s going to be pretty tough for me to be able to catch up.”
–Field Level Media
