ORLANDO, Fla. – Akshay Bhatia moved to Wake Forest, North Carolina, when he was in elementary school. Some of his earliest rounds in his new hometown came at Paschal Golf Club, the former home of Wake Forest College and a Demon Deacons’ legend by the name of Arnold Palmer.
“A municipal, like weeds on their greens,” Bhatia recalled of the historic layout, “but also all the stories of Mr. Palmer playing there.”
From a young age, Bhatia has known Palmer’s mantra well: Play boldly.
On Sunday, he put his own fearlessness on display.
Now 24, Bhatia notched his third career PGA Tour victory at the place that Arnie built, Bay Hill Club and Lodge, where the greens felt not like weeds but glass. Fortunately armed with an unmatched putter and short game, Bhatia won Palmer’s namesake tournament in a playoff over Daniel Berger after overcoming a five-shot disadvantage with nine holes to play.
Bhatia’s back-nine 31 was just a stroke off the Bay Hill record, and his nearly 16.3 combined shots gained on and around the greens – some of the fieriest in recent memory, too – ranks as the best performance by a winner since at least the start of the Tour’s ShotLink era, which dates to 1983. The previous best mark was Patrick Reed, who gained more than a full shot less at the 2020 WGC-Mexico Championship.
“Everyone knows when you show up to Bay Hill it’s going to be a test and to play one of the hardest golf courses,” Bhatia said. “And to succeed is really cool.”
Berger led this tournament by as many as six shots, though by the time he and Bhatia polished off their third rounds on Sunday morning, he was just one clear of Bhatia, whose round-capping birdie putt hung the lip for several seconds before dropping for a birdie and two-shot swing.
“Winning golf tournaments, there’s a lot of luck involved,” Bhatia said. “A lot of things have to go your way.”
Bhatia’s luck, however, seemed to have run dry as he carded three bogeys and went out in 2-over 38 later that afternoon – after a nap, of course. His 2-foot miss for par at the ninth hole was especially frustrating. Bhatia, who’d also only hit fairways at about a 40% clip to that point, had plenty of time to blow off steam on the long walk to the 10th tee, which requires walking past the range, up and across a catwalk, around the practice green and briefly through the crowd.
“He said he was so pissed,” said Bhatia’s caddie, Joe Greiner, “and I told him, ‘Go play the next hole pissed off.’ Then when he made birdie, I said, ‘Go play this one pissed off too.’”
Bhatia rattled off four straight birdies to begin his final nine. He wedged to 8 feet at the par-4 10th, hooped a nearly 60-footer at the par-4 11th, got up and down and drained another 8-footer at the par-5 12th, and poured in a 10-footer at the par-4 13th, where Berger bogeyed after plugging his approach in a bunker. Suddenly, Berger’s lead was again just a shot.
Two holes later, Bhatia delivered his boldest shot of the week. Greiner told his boss, “Just try to hit the best 6-iron of your life,” before Bhatia almost jarred his second shot from 191 yards at the par-5 16th. Bhatia rolled in the eagle, then followed with back-to-back approaches to 18 feet to set up tap-in pars, though he flirted a little too much with the water at No. 18, overdrawing a 9-iron that came to rest in the first cut, just feet from the rocks. He missed only one fairway in his last 10 drives.
Berger missed the 18th fairway on all three occasions on Sunday, playing the finishing hole in a combined 2 over. His bid for a fifth Tour win ended with a missed 7-footer for par in the playoff.
“It’s tough to win. It’s tough to battle,” Berger said. “But I feel like I did a good job, and a shot here or there was the difference.”
Each of Bhatia’s first two Tour titles, at the 2023 Barracuda Championship and 2024 Valero Texas Open, also came in sudden death.
“I love the big moments,” Bhatia said. “I think that’s what I play for. And you just can’t shy away from it when you’re trying to win big golf tournaments.”
You must play like the King.