ORLANDO, Fla. — Akshay Bhatia was so offended that he needed to do one thing about lacking a 30-inch par putt Sunday on the Arnold Palmer Invitational that left him 5 pictures behind. His subsequent cost on the again 9 at Bay Hill would have made the King proud.
“It’s a must to play daring to win” was one in every of Palmer’s well-known quotes.
Bhatia had all of it.
He made the crew with 4 consecutive birdies. On the par-5 sixteenth gap, with a two-shot lead and three pictures left, he hit a 6-iron right into a harmful pin and nearly went into the cup on the second bounce, however made a brief eagle to remain within the sport.
He then got here from behind to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, defeating Daniel Berger in Bay Hill’s first playoff sport since 1999, three years earlier than Batia was born.
“If he was watching over there, he’d be fairly pleased with the way in which the match ended,” mentioned Bhatia, carrying the pink cardigan given to Palmer’s match winners.
“Be daring — I feel that was Mr. Palmer’s large level that everybody knew,” he mentioned. “I felt that vitality and buzz. It was superior. I am so fortunate to win this match.”
Bhatia almost made it by means of regulation on the 18th, flying his flag over water surrounded by rocks, however closed with a 3-under 69 to win his third PGA Tour title, all in a playoff.
It was the beginning of golf’s largest match, which concludes with subsequent month’s Masters, the largest occasion with a $20 million stake to propel the 24-year-old into the world’s prime 20.
After a shot that constructed a four-shot lead on the flip, Berger walked confidently and appeared to have received the match. He missed a 7-foot par putt on the seventeenth gap and misplaced the lead, however confirmed sufficient vitality on the ultimate gap to make a 70-yard up-and-down for par and make the playoff.
He completed with 15 below par and 273.
Berger hit his tee shot into the correct tough on the 18th gap in regulation, however within the playoff he drove it and hit a 6-iron to the entrance fringe of the inexperienced 106 ft away. He rolled it seven ft beneath the outlet, and the playoff-extending par putt was weak and missed below the cup.
Bhatia performed in the midst of the inexperienced. He two-putted from inside 30 ft to win and take residence $4 million in prize cash.
“Everyone knows that if you present up at Bay Hill, it is a problem,” Bhatia mentioned.
He additionally felt like a part of “Ernie’s Military” was on his aspect in direction of the tip, with moments when the viewers was clearly for Berger and towards him.
“No stress,” shouted one spectator as Berger hit the putt to inside 15 ft of par and the outlet that clinched a playoff berth. “Get within the water,” one other spectator mentioned throughout a putt.
Bhatia began the again 9 with 4 straight birdies, one in every of which got here from simply inside 60 ft on the eleventh gap. There was a two-shot swing on the thirteenth, with Bhatia making a 10-foot birdie putt, and Berger confronted a shot to a crisp inexperienced with water on the opposite aspect, with a lie caught in a bunker. He correctly performed again to the golf green and picked up bogey, chopping his result in one stroke.
The ultimate hour was heated with Bhatia’s largest shot on the par-5 sixteenth. His caddy, Joe Greiner, advised him, “Attempt hitting the very best 6-iron of your life.”
“That was a kind of professional pushes,” mentioned Bhatia, the one participant all day to hit his second shot inside 10 ft of the sixteenth gap. “I did not imply to goal on the flag.”
Berger missed 18 months with a decrease again harm after the 2022 U.S. Open and suffered a damaged finger final August, however was seeking to turn out to be the primary wire-to-wire winner in 10 years at Bay Hill.
“It is exhausting to win. It is exhausting to combat,” he mentioned. “However I really feel like I did a very good job and the shot right here made the distinction.”
That additionally applies to Bhatia. He and Berger returned Sunday morning to complete the third spherical. Berger held a three-shot lead till the 18th gap, when he bogeyed the correct tough, and Bhatia’s 10-foot putt caught on the lip for lower than 10 seconds after which dropped for birdie.
Berger’s comfort prize, except for the $2.2 million he obtained for ending second, is that he earned a spot on the British Open and is effectively inside the world’s prime 40, which implies he’ll almost certainly return for subsequent month’s Masters.
Cameron Younger, who spent his winters in Orlando as a toddler, shot a bogey-free 69 to tie for third with Ludvig Oberg (67).
Scottie Scheffler additionally had a double bogey on the 18th gap, his second double bogey of the spherical, and third time within the remaining 19 holes at Bay Hill, resulting in a 73. He tied for twenty fourth, his lowest end on tour since T-25 on the Phoenix Open in February 2025. It was the primary time he did not break 70 in a match since final yr’s U.S. Open.
Info from The Related Press was used on this report.
