Akshay Bhatia stepped up when it mattered the most over the weekend to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. While it marked the thirdPGA Tourwin of his career, this one carries a different pedigree, and the way he got the job done vaults him into an entirely different class of player.
On the other side of the planet,Jon Rahmstepped into something he had missed for more than 500 days: the winner's circle. The Spaniard, finally finding victory again withthe Mastersfast approaching, rightfully puts him back into the conversation of players to watch at Augusta National, because before his win in Hong Kong, he had looked as non-threatening as he had in years.
Speaking of non-threatening players, that was shockingly whatScottie Schefflerwas at Bay Hill. While it was premature to sound the alarms about the No. 1 player in the world before this past weekend, there is a concern about one piece of his game that we haven't seen spike like this inquitesome time.
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It's starting to look like the decision to skip out on college and turn professional at the age of 17 was the correct one for Akshay Bhatia. While he did grind (and win) on mini tours for two years after turning pro in 2019, it's been a steady climb for the now 24-year-old out of North Carolina.
Bhatia won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022, earned his first win on Tour the following year, won the Valero Texas Open in 2024, and while he didn't check the victory box in 2025, a win at Arnie's Place over the weekend keeps the career trajectory arrow very much pointing in the right direction.
Bhatia trailed Daniel Berger by five shots at one point during Sunday's final round at Bay Hill, but kept to his game plan and rode hisinsanelyhot putter down the stretch. The story of the week for the eventual champ was how well he played the back nine.
Heading into Sunday's final round, Bhatia was 10-under on the back nine for the week. Naturally, it was the 10th hole when he began his comeback to eventually force a playoff with Berger. Four straight birdies to begin the back nine on Sunday before a bogey-eagle run on the 15th and 16th holes was just good enough to catch Berger at 15-under and force extra holes, yet Bhatia only needed one to snatch the signature victory.
During his post-win press conference, Bhatia showed some vulnerability and candidness, explaining how it felt to get the job done.
"Yeah, I mean just proving to myself I can do it," Bhatia began, when asked about this being a breakthrough win. "I think I went through a stretch last year where I was in contention, and then felt like, not impossible, but it felt like it took a lot of learning from each day that I didn't play well. So again, this is another big step for me going from a non-full or a, you know, I won a full-field event, I won the Barracuda, which is an opposite field event, and now winning a Signature Event is huge. So I'm excited.
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