22-year-old left-hander Akshay Bhatia held off a breathtaking late run from Denny McCarthy to win the Valero Texas Open in a sudden-death playoff and force his way into next week’s Masters.
Bhatia nearly ran away with the tournament, holding a six-shot lead heading into the 10th hole before McCarthy birdied eight of the final nine holes – including seven in a row to finish – to reach 20 under par and put the pressure on on Bhatia. Bhatia then sank his 11-foot birdie putt to force the playoff. He birdied the first playoff hole while McCarthy made a double bogey, sealing his second career PGA Tour victory.
A winner in Texas 🏆
@AkshayBhatia_1 win the @ValeroTXOpen on the first playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/uKAlpejle9– PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 7, 2024
Bhatia made news at a young age when he turned professional at 17 after an illustrious career as a junior golfer. Instead of following the academic route, Bhatia went through the difficulties of professional life, missing seven consecutive cups in 2020 and losing his tour card in 2021. He then regained his card in 2022 and won the 2023 Barracuda Championship, a opposite. -PGA Tour event on the course that earned him no points.
Bhatia hit a milestone early in the season, finishing in the top 15 at The Sentry, the Sony Open and the Farmers Insurance Open. He missed the next three cuts but is now on a run of T17 (Valspar), T12 (Houston) and a dominant win this week in San Antonio against a strong field.
He will now make his Masters debut and this is only his second career major appearance. He played at the 2021 US Open and made the cut.
This week, however, Bhatia went wire-to-wire to take home the big win. He opened Thursday with a 63 to take a three-shot lead at TPC San Antonio and never let go. He entered the weekend with a five-stroke lead, but perhaps most impressive was how he overcame some slight difficulties on Saturday to cut the lead to just one. His response was to go four under over his final 10 holes and maintain a four-shot lead into Sunday.
Bhatia did little to reveal his lead. He birdied three of his first four holes Sunday and missed just one hole all day to shoot a 67. McCarthy’s 63 put the pressure back on Bhatia, and Bhatia weathered an injury to shoulder throughout the sequence to win.
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(Photo: Raj Mehta/Getty Images)