Rahm signed for a third-round bogey-free 10-under 61 — a tournament record — and is now just two strokes behind Big Tone.
This week’s field was anything but loaded. Jon Rahm and Tony Finau were the lone household names who made the trip south of the border. And after 54 holes those two players have found themselves at the top of the leaderboard. It appears we’re in for a clash of the Titans at the 2023 Mexico Open at Vidanta.
The Spaniard trailed Finau by six shots entering Saturday but he caught fire at Vidanta Vallarta. Rahm signed for a third-round bogey-free 10-under 61 — a tournament record — and is now just two strokes behind Big Tone.
Finau, who opened with rounds of 65-64, began his day with a birdie at the first. His opening nine wasn’t too exciting after that, although he did add another birdie at the seventh.
After a few pars to start his second half, Finau strung together three straight birdies on Nos. 12-14 then added another on the 16th. He gave one away at the par-3 17th after failing to convert a six-foot par putt, however, he got it right back with a birdie at the last.
Finau (19 under) signed for a third-round 6-under 65 and will tee off Sunday afternoon with a two-stroke lead over Rahm and Akshay Bhatia.
If you missed any of the action on Saturday, no worries, we have you covered. Get caught up on the third round of the 2023 Mexico Open below.
As for the rest of the field, it’s one of the weakest we’ve seen in a bit. Three of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are set to tee off Thursday.
Here are five bets you need to consider for the 2023 Mexico Open.
Fowler finished inside the top 20 at the Valero in ’19 and ’21.
One last stop before the year’s first major: the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio in Texas.
Many of the world’s best players are taking the week off in preparation for the Masters, however, there’s one superstar in the Lone Star State looking to earn his invitation to Augusta.
Rickie Fowler.
The 34-year-old’s game has come alive in 2023, grabbing three top-20 finishes in his last four stroke-play events. Last week at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Fowler needed an appearance in the quarterfinals to earn a spot in the Masters. He failed to advance from pool play.
Due to the March 27th Official World Golf Ranking point cutoff, Fowler needs a win at TPC San Antonio to qualify for next week’s field.
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Golf course
TPC San Antonio | Par 72 | 7,438 yards
General view of the 18th hole as Gary Woodland finishes his round during the fourth round of the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio on April 03, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Course history
TPC San Antonio (Oaks) – Course History for the #ValeroTexasOpen
Echavarria is the 10th player to make the Puerto Rico Open his first career PGA Tour title.
Nico Echavarria is a winner on the PGA Tour.
Riding a final-round 68 at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, Echavarria finished at 21 under and outlasted Akshay Bhatia by two shots in the 2023 Puerto Rico Open, the first opposite-field event on the PGA Tour’s 2023 calendar.
Echavarria scored in the 60s (67-67-65-68) all four rounds. He had 22 birdies, two eagles and six bogeys over the 72 holes.
A rookie on the PGA Tour, Echavarria said he found something in his swing on the range on Friday and it clearly carried over to the weekend, as he becomes the 10th player to make the Puerto Rico Open his first career PGA Tour title.
“With the way I was playing the last couple weeks, at Honda, that course is really hard but I missed the cut by 8 or 9. At Pebble I missed it by a lot,” he said. “You just don’t think it’s going to get better until things like this week clicks and finding something on the range on Friday just changes your week. … if I wouldn’t have had that practice session on Friday afternoon very late and found what I found, I don’t think I would be here because it cleared my mind up. I was thinking too many things. I was on a bad spot mentally before coming to this week.”
Bhatia, meanwhile, started the day in fifth and ended up in solo second. It’s his best finish on Tour; he had a tie for ninth at the 2020 Safeway Open. He also has two top-10s in four starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023.
Bhatia had eight birdies in his final round, including four straight on Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18 to close his week. He came up short but was energized and emotional after his performance this week.
“I’m legally able to drink now, so maybe I’ll have a drink with my parents,” Bhatia said. “I’m excited to see my dogs, I haven’t seen them in two weeks. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s going to be a lot of emotion. I know my dad’s going to really cry, which I’ve only seen him do one time.”
For winning the Puerto Rico Open, Echavarria earned 300 FedEx Cup points and $684,000. He joins Kurt Kitayama, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, as first time Tour winners. He also earned a spot in the Players Championship, which starts Thursday at TPC Sawgrass.
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“It’s going to be incredible to be at home because I live in Jacksonville,” he said. “Especially after a win, it’s going to be special. Probably going to keep playing and feeling what I’m feeling right now with my game, same thoughts, because this game changes quick and you’ve got to be consistent with what you’re trying to do.”
Nate Lashley and Carson Young tied for third at 16 under, five shots back. Michael Kim was solo fifth at 15 under.
Good thing his girlfriend brought him a change of clothes.
Taking your shirt off during a PGA Tour tournament isn’t something you see every day. Unless you’re following Joel Dahmen and Harry Higgs at the WM Phoenix Open, most golfers keep their tops on when competing.
However, during the third round of the 2023 Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Akshay Bhatia stripped down not once, but twice.
Fans become accustomed to pros taking off their shoes and socks when stepping down into the wet marshes surrounding many golf courses. However, Bhatia went a step further, taking his shirt off on two different occasions during the third round.
The first time he did it came on the sixth hole, which resulted in Bhatia making a par. His second shot came from the water, and he was able to get up and down from the fairway for par. His girlfriend even brought him a change of clothes after taking off his hat, shirt and shoes.
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” said Presleigh Schultz, Bhatia’s girlfriend, who demonstrated Saturday just how good a girlfriend she is.
“Luckily we’re staying right here on property. I was on 6 green, which is almost the farthest point from the hotel,” she said. “So I’m swerving through the crowd, trying to get to the hotel room, got a pair of pants, a rules official gave me a ride back and I got them to him by 8 green. I think he changed in a Porta-Potty.
“Then unfortunately it happened again on 15 and I didn’t have an extra pair.”
The second time came on the par-3 15th when his tee shot went long. This time, it didn’t go as well, having to hit two shots from the mud, and he ended up making double bogey.
Akshay Bhatia won for the first time on the Korn Ferry Tour this time last year.
Akshay Bhatia won for the first time on the Korn Ferry Tour this time last year. Nearing the halfway mark of the 2023 Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay, he’s closing in on win No. 2.
Bhatia was 19 and making his first KFT start one year ago when he won. Here in 2023, he opened with a 67 Sunday – the KFT season opening tournament is a Sunday-through-Wednesday affair – and posted a 69 on Monday. He had four bogeys (and two birdies) on the front but closed with four birdies over his last eight holes, including Nos. 15, 16 and 17. Monday’s 67 came despite a double bogey. He is at 8 under. Play Monday was suspended due to darkness with 14 golfers still on the course.
Shad Tuten is also at 8 under after rounds of 69-67. Three golfers – Daniel Miernicki, Chandler Phillips and Cody Blick – are a shot back tied for third, although Blick is only through 15 holes.
Other notables in the field include Chase Seiffert (T-10), Grayson Murray (T-13), Camilo Villegas (T-48) and Willie Mack III (T-93).
First-round leader Jeremy Paul followed up his 65 with a 79 in the second round.
The purse this week is $1 million, with $152,272 going to the winner.
Akshay Bhatia is in position to earn a PGA Tour card sooner rather than later after his win on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“Just because it hasn’t been done, doesn’t make it impossible.”
That’s right, Akshay Bhatia, and now you’re a Korn Ferry Tour winner at 19.
Bhatia turned pro when he was 17 and received backlash for the decision. Now, just two years later he’s in position to earn a PGA Tour card sooner rather than later. And for the cherry on top, this was the young man’s first appearance on the Korn Ferry Tour as a full member.
The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay served as the Tour’s season-opener this week. Entering the final round, Bhatia found himself three back of the lead needing a low number on Wednesday to have a chance.
He did just that.
His final day 7-under 65 was his best round of the week by three shots (Saturday, 68). The exclamation point? This dart at the last.
Bhatia has worked with George Gankas, coach to Matthew Wolff, Sung Kang, among others, for a few years and Bhatia has him (and a lot of hard work) to thank for being in this position.
“For me, to play with young kids like Akshay, who are so talented, it actually motivates me and it makes me feel and remember what it felt like to play golf as a kid, when I was a kid, and the love and passion that I have for it because as he starts out on his career, you can see and sense his excitement for the game, his drive, his motivation, his work ethic, and that is infectious,” Mickelson said. “I enjoy being around, and always have enjoyed being around good talented young players like this, and I’m happy to answer any questions that they may have, but I also feed off of their energy, work ethic, and drive.”
The youngster made nine starts on the PGA Tour last season highlighted by a T-9 performance at the Safeway Open.
Bhatia, with this win, quickly silenced the doubters who believed he made a mistake turning pro too early. The kid is a stud.
Patrick Cantlay, who shot 61 in his last tournament round, picked up where he left off by tying the Pebble Beach course record of 62.
Whether in the middle of a desert or hard by the sea, Patrick Cantlay can seemingly do no wrong.
Cantlay, who shattered the course record at PGA West’s TPC Stadium Course with an 11-under 61 in the final round of the American Express in his previous start, picked up right where he left off and birdied seven of the first eight holes at Pebble Beach Golf Links. He wasn’t done either. He tacked on a birdie at 11 to go with a pair of birdies at the finishing holes to tie the course record of 10-under 62.
“I feel like I’m in a groove right now,” said Cantlay, who called it a continuation of his 65-61 weekend at the American Express. “My swing feels really good right now. The ball’s starting on the line that I’m seeing, and then my distance control has been really good, which is key out here. I try to leave myself below the hole a lot and I was able to do that.”
Cantlay took advantage of receptive greens and a wind-free day to blitz a defenseless Pebble Beach and build a two-stroke lead over 19-year-old Akshay Bhatia and Henrik Norlander, who both played Pebble too, after the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Rookie Will Gordon returned the low score at Spyglass Hill, the tournament’s sister course, with a bogey-free 6-under 66.
Cantlay possesses one of the most complete games on the PGA Tour and he had all cylinders firing on Thursday. Accuracy off the tee set him up for short irons and his putter was deadly on the greens.
“Hit a lot of good shots just right out of the gate and made everything,” Cantlay said. “The first hole I just had a wedge in. The second hole I got up-and-down from just off the green (for birdie at the par 5). And for the most part, it’s wedges all the way until you get to the 8th hole. So, you do want to take advantage and today I did.”
Cantlay credited his hot putter for taking care of the rest.
“The difference the last three rounds I played on Tour is just making putts,” he said. “I think I 1-putted every green on the front nine. So, when you only have nine putts on nine holes it’s no surprise you played really well. Some of that is set up by ball striking. I had a lot of really good looks. And every time you play Pebble Beach you kind of want to get off to a hot start on those first seven holes and today I had a great start.”
Another player who didn’t skip a beat after his best performance in nearly a year last week in Phoenix was Jordan Spieth, who posted 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach. Spieth even delivered a highlight-reel moment, holing out for eagle from 113 yards at No. 10.
“I needed to cover 107 on the false front and it hit. I fixed the pitch mark maybe two short of the hole and I think it bounced past it and then spun back,” Spieth said. “Once I saw where it landed I knew it would be close. It was a bonus for it to obviously go in. I saw it drop and then there was three people on the balcony of the house in the distance and a couple people near the green, volunteers where his hands went up. But it’s still weird having a moment like that where you’re used to kind of a loud roar and it’s just so kind of calm and quiet.”
Bhatia, the teenager who hails from North Carolina and is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption, became the fourth player in the last 25 years to hit all 18 greens in regulation at Pebble Beach, and the first to do so since Ryan Palmer in 2008, en route to shooting a bogey-free 8-under par 64.
“The views actually really help me,” Bhatia said. “Because I can look out at the ocean and my mind goes blank. It’s just beautiful.”
But as Cantlay and other regulars at Pebble can attest, the famed layout can be both a beauty and a beast. The weather forecast is expected to turn nasty the remainder of the tournament, making scoring conditions less favorable.
“I think we got Pebble in pretty much ideal conditions and I don’t think it’s going to be like that the rest of the week,” Cantlay said. “This place can be a bear when the wind’s blowing, especially when you get out to that point on 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. So I’m sure the conditions will be a lot tougher this weekend, but I welcome the challenge and it will be fun.”
Akshay Bhatia, 19, hit all 18 greens and shot a bogey-free 64 to start the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Thursday.
Entering this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, only three golfers in the last 25 years had hit all 18 greens in regulation in a tournament round at famed Pebble Beach Golf Links. Make it four.
Akshay Bhatia, a 19-year-old who hails from North Carolina and is playing this week on a sponsor exemption, became the first to do so since Ryan Palmer in 2008 en route to shooting a bogey-free 8-under 64 in the opening round and in a tie for third with Norway’s Henrik Norlander, two strokes behind leader Patrick Cantlay, who tied the course record of 62.
Bhatia, who started on the back nine and switched from an arm-lock length putter to a shorter model, opened with three birdies before exploding for five birdies in his final eight holes, including sticking his second shot at the difficult par-4 eighth hole to inside 3 feet.
“I was peeling an orange and it was so bad that I was just thinking about the orange and my caddie goes, ‘OK, we got 207.’ I said, ‘OK, I got to go.’ And I don’t know, just kind of hit-and-see kind of thing,” he said. “It was a great birdie to steal there and just pretty happy with that.”
Players since 1985 who have hit every green in a round at Pebble Beach:
Jack Nicklaus, 1985 Peter Jacobson, 1995 Tom Lehman, 2000 Davis Love, 2006 Ryan Palmer, 2008 Akshay Bhatia, 2021 pic.twitter.com/una638yvgZ
It marked his lowest score in 26 PGA Tour rounds as a professional. Bhatia shot a pair of 66s in September at the Safeway Open, where the teen sensation finished in a tie for ninth and cashed a check for $166,650.
“It’s indescribable, honestly,” he said of playing on the PGA Tour at such a young age. “I’ve just learned a lot how to get beaten up and when your highs are highs it’s really good out here and it’s good enough to compete out here, so take it day by day.”
Bhatia was a top-ranked junior and highly-touted amateur, who represented the U.S. in the 2019 Walker Cup. Bhatia still remembers the feeling when he won the Tarheel Junior Tour boys 11-and-under title at Hyland Golf Club to earn his first trophy. He’s won so many golf trophies that they are displayed in not one, but two rooms at his parent’s home in Wake Forest, North Carolina. In August, he hoisted his latest at a mini-tour event on the Swing Thought Tour. Just how many trophies has Bhatia collected?
“Honestly, I don’t even know,” Bhatia told Golfweek at his previous start at the American Express. “Probably close to 100.”
Bhatia took the road less taken among golf’s elite junior players and elected to skip college and turn pro as soon as he turned 18 in January. But Bhatia’s not just any young golfer.
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“I would’ve been more surprised if he had wanted to go to college rather than turn pro,” said one of Bhatia’s swing instructors, Chase Duncan.
Bhatia has experienced more valleys than peaks in his limited time as a professional, but he said the quarantine really proved to be a turning point for him.
“I was able to calm down and relax and get a good game plan and once we started back up just playing mini tour, playing Mondays, and just grinding it out,” he said. “I just gained a lot of confidence playing mini-tour events. I won my first one and that was a huge stepping stone for me. Then I made my first cut, finished top-10, which was great. Just doing that over the course of a year was really big for me and I just know that I’m progressing every single time I’m teeing it up.”
Count Phil Mickelson among those who have witnessed the strides Bhatia has made. He’s served as a mentor figure of sorts and taken Bhatia under his wing. Last month, they played a practice round together at the American Express and Bhatia dipped into Mickelson’s money clip, beating him soundly in their match. On the final hole, Mickelson told Bhatia that his game was “light year’s better” than the previous year.
Bhatia missed the cut at Pebble Beach two years ago but fell hard for the Monterey Peninsula and the famed links along the Pacific Ocean.
“I played here two years ago and loved it,” Bhatia said. “I can just look out at the ocean and my mind goes blank. It’s just beautiful.”
Mickelson is nearly three times the age of Akshay Bhatia and schooled him in the art of the pre-tournament practice round money game.
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson began the head games with his 18-year-old practice-round opponent Akshay Bhatia early in their nine-hole match on Wednesday. Both players had just run downhill birdie putts at the 10th hole at PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course less than 4 feet past the hole when Lefty, the 50-year-old crafty veteran, said, “I know we’re going to both make them, but let’s putt them anyway. You’re a little closer so, it’s in your favor.”
Bhatia, who turned pro without attending a day of college, received an education in gamesmanship that they don’t teach at any school of higher learning. Funny enough, Mickelson missed the putt and he’d have to lighten his bill fold for the second day in a row to the kid. Bhatia, who opened with an even-par 72 in the first round of the American Express, showed the promise that suggests he could be one of the bright young lights on the PGA Tour before too long. With his Gumby-esque physique, Bhatia drilled a 5-iron from 221 yards to inches from the hole at the par-5 11th hole that he said would’ve been his first albatross.
“Obviously it’s good,” Mickelson said. “I just wanted you to see how close it was.”
And when Bhatia continued to lay down the hammer, Mickelson said, “I take my beating and then I move on.”
Akshay Bhatia lines up a putt on the seventh hole during the first round of the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson. Photo: by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
This was a classic example of young vs. old, the protege vs. the aging superstar looking for one more score. It’s hard to say who is benefiting more from this burgeoning relationship. It has the feel of Mark O’Meara serving as a big brother of sorts to Tiger Woods at the start of Woods’ career. Woods lifted O’Meara to new heights, including two majors in 1998. Mickelson remembers receiving mentorship when he was around Bhatia’s age from former PGA Tour winner Howard Twitty, who played a pro-scratch with Mickelson when he was in college at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“That meant so much to me to have a chance to play with a player of his caliber that has won multiple times on Tour, and I don’t think he realizes how I looked up to him and how much I respected and appreciated that opportunity to play with him,” Mickelson said of Twitty. “And even to this day, 30 years later, I’m still remembering how that felt.”
For several years now, Mickelson has taken young up-and-comers, such as Keegan Bradley, Brendan Steele and most recently Jon Rahm under his wing and included them in his money games. It keeps Mickelson feeling young and relevant and has made him the unofficial captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Davis Love III, who is known as the godfather of the “Sea Island Mafia” of Tour pros who live in the coastal Georgia community of Saint Simons Island, has benefited from a similar elder-statesman role. In 2015, at age 51, Love won for the 21st time on Tour at the Wyndham Championship and became the last of seven players to win on Tour after turning 50.
“For me, to play with young kids like Akshay, who are so talented, it actually motivates me and it makes me feel and remember what it felt like to play golf as a kid, when I was a kid, and the love and passion that I have for it because as he starts out on his career, you can see and sense his excitement for the game, his drive, his motivation, his work ethic, and that is infectious,” Mickelson said. “I enjoy being around, and always have enjoyed being around good talented young players like this, and I’m happy to answer any questions that they may have, but I also feed off of their energy, work ethic, and drive.”
Phil Mickelson plays his shot from the first tee during the first round of the 2021 American Express on the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West on January 21, 2021 in La Quinta, California. Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that is reminiscent of another memorable tandem of the silver screen: Vincent Lauria and Eddie Felson from the 1980s movie “The Color of Money.” Lauria, played by Tom Cruise, is Felson’s hotshot pool protégé. Felson, an aging hustler, is inspired to make a comeback. Paul Newman won an Oscar for reprising his role as Fast Eddie from “The Hustler.” In one final lesson, Mickelson offered double or nothing on the 18th green, but Bhatia wouldn’t take the bait. He’d only play for half the amount, wanting to protect some of his winnings. But seeing Mickelson’s competitive fire alive and well called to mind the final scene of The Color of Money.
Lauria: “What are you going to do when I kick your ass?”
Felson: “Pick myself up and let you kick me again. Just don’t put the money in the bank, kid. Because if I don’t whip you now, I’m gonna whip you next month in Dallas. … And if not then, then the month after that, in New Orleans.”
