ORLANDO, Fla. — Akshay Bhatia rode an Arnold Palmer-like Sunday charge for a breakthrough win at a tournament The King turned into one of the PGA Tour’s premiere events.
Riding the energy of the galleries at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Bhatia rebounded from a shaky opening nine and capitalized on late-round stumble by 54-hole leader Daniel Berger to prevail Sunday during a sudden-death playoff.
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To win, Bhatia overcame swirling emotions to summon the best golf of his young career to apply pressure on Berger, who finally cracked down the stretch and opened the door.
Bhatia eventually parred No. 18 for the second time to win the first API decided by extra holes since 1999 and stun Berger, who missed an 8-foot par putt to extend the tournament.
Sporting the winner’s red cardigan, Bhatia, who finished with a 15-under-par 273 total, suspected Palmer would have enjoyed his clutch play and back-nine resolve.
“Definitely played bold,” Bhatia said. “I think that was a big thing that everyone knows of Mr. Palmer.”
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Palmer’s hard-charging style and shotmaking inspired fans. On Sunday, those outside the ropes at Bay Hill were firmly in Bhatia’s corner despite Berger nearly delivering a front-nine knockout behind a two-shot swing at No. 9 to lead by 5 shots at the turn.
The former Florida State Seminole seeking his first win since 2021 withered while facing Bhatia’s birdie barrage and his eagle at the par-5 16th hole. Looking to join Fred Couples (1992) and Jason Day (2016) as the only wire-to-wire winners at Bay Hill, Berger eventually lost the lead on the 71st hole Sunday after being atop the leaderboard since the end of Thursday’s opening round.
“Obviously it didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” the 32-year-old said. “But at the start of the week if you told me I would have a chance on the 18th hole to win Bay Hill, I would be ecstatic with that. It’s tough to win.
“It’s tough to battle.”
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Bhatia was determined to fight after he missed a putt inside 3 feet on the par-4 9th.
“That was just a mental mistake that you just can’t make in big tournaments, big golf courses,” he said. “So I went to 10 tee very angry.”
Bhatia opened the back nine with four straight birdies. He followed a bogey five at No. 15 with an eagle at the par-5 16th, which Berger birdied to hold a one-shot advantage.
The tournament turned in Bhatia’s favor on the next hole, the daunting 184-yard par-3 17th over water.
Berger’s 7-iron went off the back of the green. Opting for a putter out of the first cut behind the green, Berger ran the ball past the hole by 8 feet and missed the comeback putt.
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Bhatia’s putt inside 20 feet just ran out of steam and burned the right edge of the cup for a par.
Berger’s tee shot on the final hole into the thick rough right of the fairway forced a layup to 70 yards. Next up from 166 yards, Bhatia hit a towering iron that just cleared the water and rocks guarding the green settled into the immediate rough just inside 20 feet.
“I was not trying to go at the flag,” Bhatia said. “But you have so much adrenaline. It was a perfect draw 9-iron, and it just rode the wind too much. But it was like one of the easiest chips I could have had on that hole.”
Berger’s pitch caught the slope and trickled to within makeable range to set up the clutch par from just inside 15 feet. Bhatia’s chip set up a gimme to force a playoff and complete a 5-under 31 over the final nine holes.
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After Bhatia split the fairway again in sudden death, Berger found the rough again, this time on the left side. His iron shot found the left side of the green, but sat more than 105 feet from the hole.
Berger left his first putt 8 feet short, and then missed his par attempt. Bhatia stepped in and calmly sank a 3-footer to complete a two-putt from 27 feet to become the first sudden-death winner at Bay Hill since Tim Herron defeated Tom Lehman on the second playoff hole 27 years ago.
No current PGA Tour event had gone longer without a playoff.
After his winning putt, Bhatia celebrated with veteran caddie Joe Greiner. He then embraced his wife, Presleigh, and gave her a kiss at the front of the 18th green near the water hazard her husband nearly had found the first time he played the hole Sunday.
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“There’s so much pressure, so much adrenaline, so many nerves and to be able to play through that … that’s kind of what Joe kept reminding me of, he’s like, You can play happy, you can play nervous, you can play upset, angry,” Bhatia said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Bhatia has been among the game’s top young talents for some time. He made his first PGA Tour start in 2019 at the age of 17 during the Valspar Championship in the Tampa area.
Bhatia entered the week with wins at the 2023 Barracuda Championship, an opposite-field event to the Open Championship, and the 2024 Valero Texas Open.
The API title moves Bhatia to another level in the game, while giving him a jolt of confidence. Ranked No. 39 in the world rankings, he’ll move inside the top 25 for the first time in his young career.
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“This is another big step for me,” he said. “I never really thought that I could really do this with that amount of pressure. I feel like I’ve shied away from that. Today I dug down, I believed in what I could do and I executed nicely.”
Bhatia needed help from Berger to pick up the win and a $4 million check. By channeling talent and grit, Bhatia proved a deserving winner the galleries at Bay Hill could get behind.
“Everyone knows when you show up to this tournament how hard it is, just very honored to win his event,” he said. “I know he was up there watching and probably pretty proud of how that finish was for this week. It felt like Arnie’s Army for me. So, very blessed.”
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