PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Collin Morikawa dreamt about his winning moment. He spent months visualizing it. On a mid-week call with his mental coach, Rick Sessinghaus, he refocused on it. After a Saturday 62, he allowed himself to believe in it.
And then, finally, Morikawa reached the 72nd hole at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the winning moment arrived. A birdie on the last and he would be a PGA Tour champion for the first time in two-and-a-half years.
The only thing standing between the two-time major champion and destiny?
Jacob Bridgeman.
To be fair, Bridgeman wasn’t too worried about his role in the proceedings. At the time he arrived in the 18th fairway on Sunday afternoon, Bridgeman still had an outside shot at a victory himself, needing an eagle and a Morikawa par on the par-5 last to force a three-way playoff.
But then he blew his second shot long of the rocks and onto the beach, and a very unfortunate sequence of events unraveled.
First came a disaster from the beach: a lengthy rules discussion that led to a heavy wedge shot which plunked off the rocks and plunged into the ocean. Then came a second lengthy rules discussion, this time about the legitimacy of a drop from on the other side of the beach, up by the fairway. Then a long walk up to the area of the safe drop. Then, thankfully, an approach shot up to the green that landed on the putting surface. Bridgeman hustled up to the putting surface, but by then the damage was done: Morikawa had been standing in the fairway over his ball — facing a terrifying second shot and needing a birdie to win the golf tournament — for more than 20 minutes.
“I knew what I had to do,” Morikawa said later. “I think I paced all the way to the ocean, like, 10 times at least. I just had to keep moving. You know, it’s weird to say, but these long breaks. I mean, it’s just not good for anyone to stand still.”
When the intensifying winds at Pebble Beach sent Bridgeman’s ball oscillating around the green, requiring a third rules intercession, the fans at home could do little but laugh. Mercifully, Bridgeman ultimately holed his putt for an adventurous — and time-consuming — bogey. Back in the fairway, it was now, finally, Morikawa’s time.
As he settled his nerves, Morikawa thought back to the dream. To the vision. To the conversation with Sessinghaus. To the belief. He thought about how that vision sounded.
“When I first came out and turned pro, like I didn’t care about honestly making cuts or top-20s, I came out to win,” Morikawa said. “I wanted to come out and win, win the weekend, win the tournament.”
With the tournament resting on one suddenly long-awaited swing, he collected himself, breathed and fired — watching as his ball carried over the famed tree in the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach and landed safely on the edge of the green.
A simple up-and-down for birdie was secured. The tournament was won. Morikawa could do nothing but bask in his first victory on U.S. soil in five long years — ending the winless streak that had hung over his career for two-and-a-half seasons with a victory at one of America’s most heralded golf courses.
“It’s hard to think that you’re still that same person, just a little bit wiser, a little bit, you know, more mature, but there’s, there’s a lot of hope, and there’s a bright future ahead,” Morikawa said. “I’m going to enjoy this one for sure.”
As Morikawa enjoyed the fulfillment of that vision from off the side of the 18th green, he could not hold back his emotion. His voice wavered.
“When I first turned pro, I just looked too far ahead,” he said. “I think I’m gonna change that perspective and just enjoy this. Shoot, we’re at Pebble Beach right now, so I’m gonna enjoy this one.”
For a moment, at least, it seemed worth the wait.
