ORLANDO, FL. – Akshay Bhatia, a bespectacled 24-year old left-handed golfer who uses an unusual split grip for putting, won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, but this one was more about how Daniel Berger lost it.
Berger led virtually all the way in this lucrative PGA Tour signature event that leads into two of the year’s biggest tournaments – this week’s Players Championship and next month’s Masters.
Berger is a Florida guy through and through, having grown up in Delray Beach, played college golf at Florida State and now a resident of Jupiter — the home of many PGA Tour players. After two years battling a serious back injury and being sidelined the last four months of 2025 with a broken finger, Berger seemed a perfect fit to complete a comeback bid at Bay Hill Club – the place made famous by Arnold Palmer.
It wasn’t meant to be, though. Berger had a four-stroke lead entering the final nine holes but wound up losing after making a three-putt bogey in the first hole of a sudden death playoff. Bhatia’s two-putt par was good enough to end their duel.
Bhatia, a California native who played in his first PGA Tour event as a 17-year old in 2019, became a circuit member in 2023 and won his third PGA Tour event on Sunday after matching Berger’s 15-under-par performance in the regulation 72 holes before the one-hole playoff. All Bhatia’s three wins came in playoffs.
Berger took his loss graciously.
“I was proud of myself, though obviously it didn’t end the way I wanted,’’ he said. “There were a lot of things to learn from. It was a tough battle, and a shot here or there was the difference.’’
Those big shots came from Bhatia’s clubs, especially during a stretch of four straight birdies on holes 10-14.
“I went to the 10th hole very angry,’’ he said. “That changed my momentum. I felt like Arnie’s Army was with me. I could feel the momentum. I know the magnitude of this tournament.’’
He called a 6-iron shot from 196 yards on No. 11 that set up an eagle “the best 6-iron of my life.’’
“The biggest thing was proving to myself that I could do it,’’ he said. “This was another big step for me. I never thought I could do this, given there was so much pressure.’’
Bhatia went to college at Wake Forest, the North Carolina school that tournament founder Arnold Palmer attended.
