Wake Forest’s Akshay Bhatia breaks through in Bahamas, one step closer to PGA Tour
His long-awaited breakthrough finally at hand, Akshay Bhatia celebrated by nearly holing out his final shot. His approach shot on the 18th hole Wednesday in the Bahamas bounced off the pin for a tap-in and, it turned out, a birdie he didn’t even need.
Bhatia’s two-shot win at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Greater Exuma Bahamas Classic is a tremendous milestone for the 19-year-old from Wake Forest, not only his first pro victory but the opening to play in more tournaments he has been seeking for more than two years — and all but securing his PGA Tour card for next summer in the process.
After deciding to skip college and turn pro at 17, Bhatia has been scraping by on sponsor’s exemptions and Monday qualifying, trying to win enough money to get some kind of status. He narrowly missed on a full Korn Ferry exemption at qualifying school, but got into the Bahamas event and the rest is history.
“For everything to happen the way it did, it’s crazy,” Bhatia told reporters in the Bahamas. “I don’t know how I managed my emotions but I did. I felt really calm. Fifteen tee we were waiting a while, so I just sat and looked at the ocean.”
There have been so many close calls along the way, but at the end of this one, Bhatia left no doubt.
“He just proved himself yesterday,” his father, Sonny Bhatia, told The News & Observer on Thursday. “I think a lot of people were saying he wasn’t ready at 17. We heard that every day. I’m happy for him. He proved to himself he could do it.”
Bhatia is now two Korn Ferry wins away from an immediate battlefield promotion to the big tour, and it’s rare a tournament winner doesn’t finish in the top 25 at the end of the year to get a tour card. With full status on the second-level tour, for the first time since he turned pro, he can actually plan ahead this summer.
“It takes the pressure off,” Sonny Bhatia said. “He’s already thinking about the battlefield (promotion), three wins and then to the PGA Tour. But he’s got choices. Whatever avenue opens up, it’s up to him take that avenue. I’d prefer him to have a good long Korn Ferry schedule and get correctly prepped for the PGA Tour. I talked to him yesterday and said, ‘Listen, to win on the Korn Ferry tour is wonderful, but it’s just getting you to complete on the PGA Tour. That’s the difference. He won’t win on the PGA Tour unless he goes through this. It’s a higher level.”
First, there’s next week. Bhatia was off to Abaco Island on the tour’s charter flight Thursday for the next leg of the Bahamas swing starting Sunday. Down the road, there’s one big tournament later this summer already inked on his calendar: The Rex Hospital Open at the Country Club at Wakefield Plantation, where Akshay Bhatia has practiced and played for years, on June 2-5.
“I’m just excited to play next week,” Bhatia said. “I have never had a schedule. Just to be able to have a schedule and look forward to playing certain events like the Rex Hospital Open at my home course, there’s all sorts of things I can look forward to this year.”
Bhatia is only the third teenager to win on the second-tier tour, joining current PGA Tour stars Sungjae Im and Jason Day. He did it three weeks after dislocating his shoulder playing pickleball and with his non-golfing girlfriend — Presleigh Schultz, a TikTok star from Raleigh — caddying for him for the first time. With Bhatia’s regular caddy unavailable, Schultz was going with him anyway so they said, why not?
“I don’t know what I’m going to tell my caddy, I really don’t,” Bhatia said. “Because this is working right now.”
Bhatia’s decision to head directly to pro golf — with a Callaway sponsorship deal and rides on Phil Mickelson’s private jet — had more than its share of doubters and critics, especially when he missed his first six cuts on the PGA Tour. The pandemic shutdown allowed him to refocus and regroup, and he’s been knocking on the door ever since: a top-10 at the Safeway Classic in September 2020, a top-30 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last February, a clutch putt on the 18th green to make the cut at the U.S. Open last summer, also at Pebble.
At Korn Ferry qualifying school in Florida in November, he missed guaranteed status by two shots, finishing tied for 63rd. But that conditional status got him a spot in the Bahamas, with many Korn Ferry pros playing the PGA Tour event in Palm Springs this week, and Bhatia finally cashed in.
“The first year I turned pro is one of the worst years I’ve had playing golf,” Bhatia said. “I struggled mentally. I missed every cut. I had a lot of people expecting me to play well and obviously I expected to play well and it just didn’t happen. With COVID hitting, it was tough on everyone, but it was a blessing for me. I got to sit back, talk to my coach, realize where I’m at in my life. After that, my life’s kind of, I’ve just climbed the mountain slowly and slowly and slowly.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2022 at 3:21 PM.
