Akshay Bhatia has his sights set on a Masters invite.
Brennan Asplen/Getty Images
Akshay Bhatia has received on the PGA Tour because the 2023 Masters, however he’s not but in subsequent week’s discipline.
Four of his 5 closest chasers on the Valero Texas Open leaderboard shall be in Augusta for the yr’s first main. That even consists of Ludvig Aberg, who will make his first-ever main look.
But the person who leads the sector by 4 pictures at TPC San Antonio as he seeks his first full-field PGA Tour win.
Once a “can’t miss kid” who bypassed highschool by turning skilled in 2019 on the ripe previous age of 17, Bhatia took a little bit bit longer than some might have anticipated to arrive. It took him till 2022 to earn his Korn Ferry Tour card. He’s been on the quick monitor since, nevertheless. He received his first begin as a KFT member after which he turned a particular momentary member of the PGA Tour final season.
Now it’s taking him longer than he may need anticipated to earn his first Masters invite.
Bhatia was upset final season when his win on the Barracuda Championship, an opposite-field occasion held the identical week because the Open Championship final season, didn’t assure him a spot within the FedEx Cup Playoffs. While it acquired him full-time standing on the PGA Tour, it additionally didn’t get him into the Masters.
His greatest objectives are to play in majors, he stated Saturday night time as he stands one spherical away from qualifying for his second one, and plenty of extra after.
“if I win, that’s great. I mean, it gets me closer to my goal,” Bhatia stated. “Yeah, it doesn’t mean the world to me. I didn’t grow up playing on the PGA Tour necessarily to win just PGA Tour events, I grew up playing and dreaming of winning majors. That’s kind of my main focus for the years to come.”
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Only a win would get Bhatia into the sector at Augusta as a runner-up wouldn’t be sufficient to increase him into the highest 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. But if he have been to convert his first-ever 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour, the 22-year-old would develop into the primary Drive, Chip and Putt Championship participant to attain the Masters.
He’d even be the fifth participant within the final six seasons to win the ultimate occasion earlier than Augusta to qualify for the Masters.
How will he keep within the second so as to get the job carried out?
“Race my race.”
That’s what Bhatia is writing on his wrist earlier than he performs proper now.
“I’m just going at my own pace, focusing on myself, keeping the blinders right in front of me,” he stated. “I look at that all the time because you can get caught up in a lot of things out here and if I’m just kind of doing my own thing and trying not to let outside stuff bother me, then I just can focus on myself and whatever the outcome is, it is.”
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