With a new car and putting stroke, Akshay Bhatia takes another shot at the PGA Tour
Akshay Bhatia has never lacked for confidence, skipping college and going straight into pro golf. But even by his standards, he took a leap of faith earlier this summer. Still looking for his first professional win, Bhatia went ahead and leased a new car.
“I spoiled myself,” the 18-year-old from Wake Forest said. “I got a Mercedes. Probably not the smartest thing to do.”
With a Callaway endorsement deal already in his pocket, Bhatia wasn’t exactly hurting for funds. But he parked his new wheels in Hilton Head last week and fattened his wallet with the $14,000 top prize from a two-round tournament on the SwingThought minitour, posting an ego- and balance-boosting three-stroke win — his first on any tour since turning pro in September as the top junior player in the United States and one of the top amateurs in the world.
Unlike his competitors on that tour, Bhatia was able to make an immediate jump to the PGA Tour this week with a long-promised sponsor exemption into the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. It’s his sixth free pass on the tour this year, and his last with the tour moving into the FedEx Cup playoffs starting next week.
Under different circumstances, Bhatia would be arriving on campus for his freshman year of college instead of Sedgefield Country Club. His pro career hasn’t gone quite as smoothly as he would have hoped or even expected — he missed the cut in his first five tour events — but it’s the path he chose and there’s no turning back now.
“I’ve always had that mentality of learning the hard way,” Bhatia said.
On the off chance Bhatia challenges for the lead this weekend — as unlikely as that may be, although seven of the past 13 Wyndham winners were first-time winners on tour — there are some big pots of gold at the rainbow. A solo second would get him enough FedEx Cup points for special temporary member status on the tour next year, one of the lowest classes of tour membership but still probably good for a dozen or so tournaments. A win, and not only would Bhatia immediately become a full tour member, with everything that goes with it, he’d actually get one of the 125 spots in the actual FedEx Cup playoffs next week in Boston.
More realistically, it’s another chance for Bhatia to prove he belongs at this level. He admits to feeling a little out of place mixing and mingling with the pros in his five events last fall, missing the cut in all of them. He already knew locals like Chesson Hadley and did make a few friends, including a newly close relationship with fellow Callaway endorsee Phil Mickelson, another lefty. The two flew to Saudi Arabia for a tournament on a private jet together in January, before things shut down, and Bhatia has been tinkering with the soles of his wedges and leading edges of his irons on Mickelson’s advice.
Bhatia used the pandemic pause this spring to not only clear his head but rebuild his putting stroke from scratch. He’s got an old friend from Wake Forest on his bag now — Jonas Hillyard, who played golf at Heritage High — and he entered the summer with new confidence that showed not only when he signed his name on a new lease on a new A35 sedan, but also on the winning scorecard in Hilton Head last weekend.
“I’ve learned a lot since this quarantine thing started,” Bhatia said. “When I first got out on tour playing these tournaments, I definitely had self-belief, but I was uncomfortable. That’s what’s going to happen at 17, playing against these guys who have been out here for a while. I’ve shot lower scores the last few months and that’s huge for me. I know I can do it.”
He proved that last weekend, even if it’s a massive jump from a low-level minitour to the PGA Tour. The Wyndham is as close to a home game as he’s going to get for a while. (While players are allowed one guest this week, for this first time, his parents will be watching from Wake Forest.) And while he’s still trying to prove he fits in, he won’t look out of place in at least one spot: the players’ parking lot.
“I’m excited to break through,” Bhatia said. “And I just leased (the) car, so having a little extra money to pay for the car payments really helped me. I’m not as stressed about that now.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 2:23 PM.
