Forget what happened two weeks ago at the 2024 Travelers Championship, when Akshay Bhatia barely made the cut and was crushed by several players behind him. Forget the three-putt on Sunday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic that sunk the third win of his ridiculously young career.
In a vacuum, those results are relevant. But when looking at Bhatia’s entire career, they’re so insignificant that they’re not worth repeating.
If Bhatia wins on Sunday, he will join Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Tom Kim as the only golfers in the last 40 years to win three times before turning 23. (And Bhatia doesn’t turn 23 for another six months.)
Turning pro after high school, Bhatia’s career path has been even better than expected (which was high considering he had the confidence to skip college altogether). Just look at what he’s accomplished over the last four seasons (stats via Data Golf).
|
2024 |
ten |
first |
1.29 |
|
2023 |
9 |
first |
0.30 |
|
2022 |
3 |
first |
-1.11 |
|
2021 |
first |
0 |
-0.42 |
That’s a remarkable improvement in stroke play over each of the last two years. If that continues next season, Bhatia will be in the same league as McIlroy and Xander Schauffele. That would put him on a similar year to the likes of Sahith Theegala, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns and Viktor Hovland. That’s incredible company for anyone, but even more so for someone who was not even 22 when the calendar year began.
Players become normalized when they’ve been on the PGA Tour for a long time. It might seem like Bhatia and Will Zalatoris should be the same age, but they’re actually five years apart. Although they’ve both been on the PGA Tour for a similar amount of time, Bhatia essentially turned pro when Zalatoris was a star for Wake Forest. Neither is better or worse than the other, but one certainly stretches the perception of time more than the other.
Bhatia’s career, at least in terms of age and timing, has more in common with Kim’s than Zalatoris, Hovland, or Collin Morikawa’s.
For Bhatia, it seems like things are going pretty well for him. To have two majors in two years is pretty unusual, and it’s symbolic of someone learning the game professionally while getting used to life on the PGA Tour.
And it looks like that effort could lead to a spot on the U.S. Presidents Cup team. Bhatia’s T2 finish in Detroit on Sunday moved him up to 10th in the U.S. rankings. While only the top six are guaranteed a spot, it would be foolish not to pick the 22-year-old potential rising star for a team event that the U.S. has dominated for much of the season. If he’s anywhere near making the team, Bhatia should be in it.
Bhatia was depressed after he three shots from 32 feet on Sunday allowed Cam Davis to win outright without having to make the playoffs. But he also saw the big picture.
“Playing good golf, doing a lot of good things,” he said of his game. “So getting ready for The Open, and hopefully I can put myself in position again.”
While the Rocket Mortgage Classic is a tournament he probably should have won — he played the final 11 holes 1 over == the lessons he’s learned from the past two weeks — and really this entire 2024 season — are enormous. It’s entirely possible he could push himself into bigger and better opportunities to win later this year and throughout his career.
It’s easy to be fooled by the two wins or the 64 career appearances (nearly the same as Cameron Young, who is five years his senior) or the inability to finish games.
But Bhatia is someone who, even at 22, has proven he can win. He did so at this year’s Texas Open and last year’s Barracuda Championship.
Despite any disappointments that may come when he arrives in Scotland later this month, what is happening in Bhatia’s career should provide huge cause for optimism.
We are watching the evolution of a star in real time.
It doesn’t always feel that way, especially watching him the last two Sundays, but it rarely does until one looks in the rearview mirror. This is what it looks like when a golfer is in the midst of his rise.
Akshay Bhatia is on his way to greatness. The only question: How awesome is that?
