For those who have followed Akshay Bhatia’s decorated golf career, the fact that the 22-year-old phenom captured his second PGA Tour title on Sunday — earning his first berth into a major tournament — might come as no surprise.
But the way Bhatia won, running away from most of the field early and then outlasting a wily veteran in a playoff at the 2024 Valero Texas Open to earn a spot in next week’s Masters? That certainly might have the golf world doing a collective double-take.
Bhatia finished off one of the most impressive and improbable wire-to-wire victories in recent memory, fending off a heroic charge by runner-up Denny McCarthy on Sunday afternoon, and finding his way into the winner’s circle at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course.
McCarthy forced a playoff with an incredible string of eight birdies over the final nine holes, and after he buried a seventh straight birdie putt on 18, it appeared he might be poised for his first PGA Tour victory.
Bhatia responded with a huge birdie putt of his own on the tournament’s 72nd hole, and then watched as McCarthy made a surprising and fatal mistake by chunking a wedge from 99 yards out on the playoff hole — and splashing it into a creek.
Winning is hard.
Denny McCarthy has found the water from 99 yards out on the first playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/41GpsUEvEZ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 7, 2024
“Wish I could have had that wedge shot back there. I backed off a couple times,” McCarthy said. “There was a bug on my ball and some noise in the stands and a bug jumped back on my ball. I probably should have backed away again, but I thought I could kind of not let it distract me and maybe it did a little.
“Maybe a learning experience for me, but all in all I handled myself really well today.”
Adding a little more drama, Bhatia then asked for his shoulder to be taped up by a trainer before his approach on the playoff hole, telling those on hand that he pulled it out of its socket during a fist-pump celebration after hitting the putt on 18.
But he safely found the green and then dropped a six-footer to earn the trip back to Augusta.
The field for the 88th Masters Tournament is set. See you back at Augusta National, Akshay. #themasters
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2024
“Denny played unbelievable. It’s tough, he’s one of the best putters out here. Yeah, it’s scary how good he played. To shoot 8 under on the back is like unheard of,” Bhatia said. “You think he might miss one, but it was awesome to see that. It made me feel like, OK, I really need to step up here, I can’t just cruise in. I did such a good job just coming out, sticking to my game plan.
“I still had to shoot 5 under to just get into a playoff, so it was pretty crazy.”
Bhatia has won at every level and Saturday marked the 10th anniversary of his appearance at the Drive, Chip & Putt at Augusta National, where he finished sixth in the 12-13 age category.
At the ripe age of 15, Bhatia won the 2017 Junior PGA Championship, breaking a course record at the Country Club of St. Albans, and cruising to a three-stroke victory. He added a number of major junior events a year later, including the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and the Rolex Tournament of Champions.
He later became the third-youngest player to win a Korn Ferry Tour event, when he took home the title at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, with only Sungjae Im and Jason Day doing so at a younger age.
None of this has fazed Bhatia, who continues to work hard, keep his nose to the grindstone and focus on the next major hurdle.
“I’m just true to myself. I’ve never had an easy life growing up, so anytime anyone sees that, oh, this kid’s making a ton of money, he’s playing on the PGA Tour, he’s won on the PGA Tour, that’s just not it,” Bhatia said after his third round of play, “There’s so much more to it than just the golf. For guys coming up from PGA Tour U or Nick Dunlap, for instance, winning on the PGA Tour, like there’s going to be a lot for them to learn and hopefully being peers with them, it kind of can help them along the way and kind of grow up faster.”
Bhatia conducted himself like a veteran in the latter stages on Sunday, as he had a four-stroke lead heading into Sunday, pushed that advantage to six after the fourth hole, but then watched as McCarthy put on an impressive display on the back at the Greg Norman-designed course.
McCarthy’s birdie barrage started just after the turn as he knocked off strokes on Nos. 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 to pull within one.
On the 17th, a drivable par-4, McCarthy missed right in the rough, while Bhatia dropped his in a bunker off to the right side of the hole. Both players put their second shots to within five feet, but Bhatia missed his putt, marking the first time in 52 times during the tournament that he missed from that distance.
Both players made birdies on the 18th hole, then Bhatia capitalized on McCarthy’s playoff miscue to take the $1.65 million first prize and the final spot in the 2024 Masters.
“t’s cool. It’s a dream come true. I didn’t know what to expect this week,” Bhatia said. “This is just kind of a week where I played a couple times and I was a little more comfortable, I think. I wrote on my wrist today “W-T-W,” which is wire-to-wire. Just kind of pictured a straight wire from the first hole to the 72nd hole and I just tried to really stick to that, and my caddie did an awesome job reminding me of that.”
As for McCarthy, he’ll take plenty away from this week, even though he missed out on the hardware.
“I’m hitting the ball really nice, chipping and putting really nice. Just kind of committing to my process and freeing it up and not really caring where it goes,” McCarthy said. “I did that really well all week, especially today also, Sunday afternoon, last group. It stings right now, but I found a lot of good things in my game this week mentally and physically, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”