Akshay Bhatia, inspired by late niece, wins Arnold Palmer | D’Angelo
ORLANDO — When a rainbow suddenly appeared on the 18th green at Bay Hill Club & Lodge as Akshay Bhatia was being honored at the Arnold Palmer Invitational championship with a red cardigan and a Tiffany trophy, the Jupiter resident knew it was a sign.
Bhatia’s thought went straight to her niece, Mia Bhatia, who died three months ago at age 6 on the morning Akshay and his wife, Presleigh, were married. Mia was supposed to be present at the destination wedding in the Bahamas and stay with her family in a house called “Heaven on Earth.”
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“The rainbow, it was like she was the one watching over him,” Presleigh said. “Even though she’s not here, you still feel her.”
Akshay got emotional while talking about Mia, who suffered from a rare disease known as PDCD (Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency). Mia, the daughter of Akshay’s sister Niki, was not supposed to live beyond her first birthday.
This fighting spirit is what Akshay was able to channel to achieve the most important victory of his career.
“My niece was definitely looking out for me,” Bhatia said. “When I saw that rainbow on the 18th, it reminded me of her. So it was really cool, you know, just a special moment for us and I can’t wait to celebrate it.”
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Bhatia never thought himself out of the tournament. Not when he was five shots behind Daniel Berger on the turn in the final round after missing a par putt on No. 9, which made him “very angry.” Not when a bogey at No. 15 halted his momentum and gave Berger a two-shot lead.
And believing he could defeat his neighbor – Berger and Bhatia live 5 miles apart with Berger in Tequesta and Bhatia in Jupiter – in an entertaining and dramatic final round, Bhatia then pulled off what he called “the best shot of his life.”
A tournament that belonged to Berger through 69 holes came down to a swing by Bhatia, a 189-yard six-iron on the par-5 16th hole. The ball settled 3 1/2 feet from the hole and Bhatia’s eagle sent this tournament in a different direction.
Berger’s bogey at No. 17 meant Bhatia, who had started the back nine with four consecutive birdies, had completed his comeback. And after parring No. 18 – Berger clutching a 14-footer that spun halfway around the hole before falling – the first playoff in this event in 27 years was assured with both players shooting 15-under 273.
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It was short-lived as Berger’s tee shot on number 18 landed in the rough for the third time in a row. This time he couldn’t save himself. A 7 1/2-foot putt to force a second playoff hole died and fell to the right, securing Bhatia’s third PGA Tour victory.
“Winning golf tournaments takes a lot of luck,” said Bhatia, 24. “A lot of things have to happen according to your will. It’s just part of the game.”
Berger knows this now as much as Shane Lowry does. Bhatia said golf was “so crazy it’s been crazy the last few weeks.” He was certainly referring to Lowry, the Jupiter resident who felt the pain last week of giving away the Cognizant Classic to Palm Beaches, ceding a three-shot lead with three holes to play.
“It’s hard to win, it’s hard to fight,” Berger said, preferring to look at the positives from his best tournament since his last victory, the 2021 Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
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Berger never trailed all day until his putt on the first playoff hole fell short.
Akshay Bhatia and Daniel Berger face off on a day that would have made Arnold Palmer ‘proud’
Bhatia and Berger won’t get the attention of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy one way or the other, but that doesn’t diminish what we witnessed on Arnie’s last day.
And it was a day that, for Bhatia and Berger, included 20 holes.
Both players had to return to complete their third round, which was suspended after a 67-minute delay due to rain. Bhatia struck out on 16 as darkness fell and Berger scored his ball.
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They finished the round after a “crash rap” (Bhatia’s words) in the weight room at 5:30 a.m. and before their restart at 8:00 a.m.
But one of the most notable moments of the day came shortly after sunrise on the 18th green when Bhatia’s birdie putt hung on the edge of the hole as he headed for the ball and dropped it just short of his arrival. The two-shot swing meant – Berger had made bogey on the hole – meant Berger began the final round with a one-shot lead.
The moment was one of the reasons why Bhatia often referred to the tournament’s namesake, saying he thought Arnold Palmer would be “pretty proud of how this week went.”
This, while he was sitting on the podium wearing this sweater and this trophy which depicts a silhouette of Palmer sitting nearby.
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“I went through a period last year where I was in contention and then I felt like it wasn’t impossible, but I felt like I had to learn a lot every day to not play well,” Bhatia said. “It’s another big step…I never really thought I could really do this with this much pressure. I feel like I avoided that. And today I just dug in, believed in what I could do and executed well.”
With the help of a little girl who made her presence felt.
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for the Palm Beach Post. He can be contacted at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Akshay Bhatia, inspired by his late niece, wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational
