ORLANDO — When a rainbow suddenly appeared over the 18th green at Bay Hill Club & Lodge as Akshay Bhatia was being honored as the Arnold Palmer Invitational champion with a red cardigan sweater and Tiffany trophy, the Jupiter resident knew it was a sign.
Bhatia’s thought went right to his niece, Mia Bhatia, who passed away three months ago at age 6 on the morning Akshay and his wife, Presleigh, were married. Mia was supposed to be at the destination wedding held in the Bahamas and staying with family in a home called “Heaven on Earth.”
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“The rainbow was like it’s her watching over him,” Presleigh said. “Even though she is not here, you still feel her.”
Akshay got emotional talking about Mia, who suffered from a rare condition known as PDCD (Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency). Mia, the daughter of Akshay’s sister, Niki, was not supposed to live beyond her first birthday.
That fighting spirit is what Akshay was able to channel for the most significant victory in his career.
“I had my niece definitely watching over me,” Bhatia said. “When I saw that rainbow on 18, it reminded me of her. So it was really cool, you know, just a special moment for us and can’t wait to celebrate.”
March 8: Akshay Bhatia celebrates his win on the 18th green after a playoff victory over Daniel Berger in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Florida.
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Bhatia never thought himself out of the tournament. Not when he was five shots behind Daniel Berger at the turn during the final round after missing a par putt on No. 9 that made him “very angry.” Not when a bogey at No. 15 stopped his momentum and gave Berger a two shot lead.
And believing he could overcome his neighbor — Berger and Bhatia live 5 miles from each other with Berger in Tequesta and Bhatia in Jupiter — in an entertaining and dramatic final round, Bhatia then hit what he called “the best shot of his life.”
A tournament that belonged to Berger for 69 holes turned on one swing by Bhatia, a 6-iron from 189 yards 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 on No. 17 meant Bhatia, who started the back nine with four consecutive birdies, had completed the comeback. And after they parred No. 18 — Berger making a clutch 14-footer that spun halfway around the hole before dropping — the first playoff in this event in 27 years was secured with both players shooting 15-under 273, that included Bhatia’s 69, one shot better than Berger.
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That was short lived as Berger’s tee shot on No. 18 landed in the rough for the third straight time. This time he could not save himself. A 7 1/2-foot par putt to force a second playoff hole died and fell to the right, securing Bhatia’s third PGA Tour victory.
“Winning golf tournaments, there’s a lot of luck involved,” the 24-year-old Bhatia said. “A lot of things have to go your way. It’s just part of the game.”
Berger now knows that as much as, well, Shane Lowry. Bhatia said golf is “so crazy, it’s been crazy the last couple of weeks.” He certainly was referring to Lowry, the Jupiter resident who felt the pain last week of giving away the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, surrendering a three-shot lead with three holes to play.
“It’s tough to win, it’s tough to battle,” Berger said, preferring to look at the positives of his best tournament since his last win, which was the 2021 Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
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Berger never trailed the entire day, until his putt on the first playoff hole was off failed to drop.
Akshay Bhatia, Daniel Berger go head-to head on day that would have make Arnold Palmer “proud”
Bhatia and Berger will not command the attention Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy would in a mano a mano, but that does not diminish what we witnessed the final day at Arnie’s place.
And it was a day that, for Bhatia and Berger, included 20 holes.
Both players had to come back to complete their third round, which was suspended after a 66-minute rain delay. Bhatia putted out on 16 as darkness was falling and Berger marked his ball.
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They finished the round after “bumping rap” (Bhatia’s words) in the weight room at 5:30 a.m. and ahead of their 8 a.m. restart.
But one of the biggest moments of the day occurred soon after sunrise on the 18th green when Bhatia’s birdie putt hung on the edge of the hole as he walked to the ball and dropped just before he arrived. The two shot swing — Berger made bogey on the hole — meant Berger was starting the final round with a one-shot lead.
That moment was one of the reason’s Bhatia often referenced the tournament’s namesake, saying he thought Arnold Palmer would be “pretty proud of how that finish was for this week.”
This, as he sat on the podium wearing that sweater and that trophy that features a silhouette of Palmer sitting close by.
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“I went through a stretch last year where I was in contention, and then felt like, not impossible, but it felt like it took a lot of learning from each day that I didn’t play well,” Bhatia said. “This is another big step … I never really thought that I could really do this with that amount of pressure. I feel like I’ve shied away from that. And today I just, I dug down, I believed in what I could do and I executed nicely.”
With some help from 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 reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Akshay Bhatia, inspired by late niece, wins Arnold Palmer Invitational
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