He nearly blew a massive lead on Sunday afternoon, and he partially dislocated his shoulder celebrating before the playoff, but Akshay Bhatia is headed to Augusta National.
Bhatia fended off a wild comeback from Denny McCarthy to win the Valero Texas Open on Sunday at TPC San Antonio. It marked Bhatia’s second career win on the PGA Tour, and earned him an invitation to the Masters this week.
Bhatia dominated the Valero Texas Open for most of the tournament. The 22-year-old entered Sunday with a four-shot lead, and he immediately pushed it to six after making back-to-back birdies to open his final round. He led the field after Thursday and Friday. If he held on, he’d claim his second career victory in wire-to-wire fashion.
But once McCarthy made the turn, he took off. McCarthy birdied the 10th, and then made seven straight birdies to close out his round. McCarthy had tied it up headed into the final hole, and he sank a huge 12.5-footer on the 18th green to take the lead and hit 20-under on the week.
Bhatia responded with a huge birdie putt of his own at the 18th to force the playoff. Soon after, Bhatia was seen working out his left shoulder. He was in pain, and he called for his trainer on the first playoff hole.
Then, before his approach, Bhatia walked off the fairway with his trainer to get his shoulder taped up in private. As it turned out, after sinking his putt on the 18th green, Bhatia’s celebration popped his shoulder partially out of place.
“This shoulder I’ve had some issues with,” Bhatia said on NBC. “When I made that putt and I kind of raised my arm, it kind of went out of socket and came right back in.”
Luckily for Bhatia, McCarthy chunked his approach shot into the water. He knew it was off the second he hit it as he immediately looked down at his divot.
That opened the door for Bhatia to grab his win and earn his spot at Augusta National. He’s the 89th and final invitee for the first major championship of the year. Both of Bhatia’s career wins came in a playoff. He beat Patrick Rodgers in a playoff to win the Barracuda Championship last year.
McCarthy, despite his 9-under 63 on Sunday, finished second. He has lost in two playoffs in as many years on Tour, and he’s still searching for his first career victory.
Rory McIlroy finishes 3rd ahead of the Masters
Though he wasn’t anywhere near close enough to making a run at it, Rory McIlroy is feeling good with his game headed into the first major championship of the year.
McIlroy finished third after he posted a 6-under 66 on Sunday. His bogey-free final round brought him to 11-under on the week. It marked by far McIlroy’s best finish on Tour this season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I definitely feel like I’m in a better place than I was a few weeks ago,” McIlroy said after his round. “Through the Florida swing there was just a lot of volatility in my game. Some good, some bad, quite a few big numbers, so just trying to tidy that up … Overall much more pleased with where my game is compared to two or three weeks ago.”
McIlroy, who is currently at No. 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings, has never won at Augusta National. The 24-time PGA Tour winner has won at the three other majors, but he’s missing a green jacket to complete the career grand slam. He hasn’t won a major in a decade now, either, after he fell short at the U.S. Open last summer in Los Angeles.
McIlroy finished in second at the Masters in 2022, but he missed the cut at Augusta last year.
“Control of myself, control of my emotions and my thoughts. If I can control those [at the Masters], it makes the physical control of everything a lot easier and a lot more simple,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, just to me next week is all about discipline, about staying in control of yourself and in control of what you can control. If I can do that well, then the rest will follow.”
