Honda Classic golfer Akshay Bhatia strips down to pants, turns into internet sensation
PALM BEACH GARDENS – Akshay Bhatia is fearless, whether it’s pursuing a career as a professional golfer, meeting the woman of his dreams or taking off his shirt, shoes and socks and rolling up his pants legs to hit shots out of the mud and water at the Honda Classic.
Bhatia became an overnight star on social media and Golf Channel after hitting not one but two balls out of the water during Saturday’s third round on the Champion course at PGA National. Both times he removed the aforementioned items.
After driving into the water at the sixth hole, he advanced his ball 100 yards down the fairway and got up and down for a par. His @akshaybhatia_1 Instagram post of his bare, mud-covered chest after he hit the shot had more than 17,600 likes and 225 comments as of Sunday afternoon.
His girlfriend, Presleigh Schultz, who was in his gallery, was able to get him another pair of pants to replace what he called his “really, really gross” trousers.
At the par-3 15th, his tee shot ended up in the watery muck around the green, which he almost sank into. His first swing advanced the ball only a foot or so and he hit the next shot from the slop onto the green, where he two-putted for a double bogey.
Before those adventures, Bhatia had been in good shape, having opened the tournament with rounds of 71 and 65 for a 4-under-par total. His troubles Saturday resulted in a 74 that tied him for 58th place.
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He was doing fine Sunday, stringing together three birdies in a row on the back nine to get to 2 under for the round. But then his tee shot on the 15th ended up in nearly the same position as Saturday. So he disrobed again, splashed the ball onto the green and two-putted for a bogey. He finished with a 69, placing him in the bottom half of the 80-man field.
“I never practice that shot, but after doing it three times, I guess I’m getting pretty good at it,” he said.
His newfound fame was apparent at the raucous par-3 17th hole.
“At 17, all you heard was ‘Take it off!’ ” Schultz said. “But it’s been fun.”
Bhatia is only 21, but he’s shown a knack for making headlines. In 2019, he became the youngest member of the United States Walker Cup team at age 17. He also played in the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship on a sponsor exemption that year, but missed the cut. Later that spring, he Monday-qualified for a Korn Ferry Tour event and tied for 42nd.
Born in Los Angeles, Bhatia’s family moved to Wake Forest, N.C., while he was a boy. Now living in Raleigh, N.C., he considered playing college golf but decided that school wasn’t for him and he turned pro.
He played 11 PGA Tour events in 2020-21, his best finish a tie for ninth. He won his first Korn Ferry tournament in 2022, but did not earn a PGA Tour card. This season, he’s made three cuts in three PGA Tour tournaments. He’ll play in the Tour’s Puerto Rico Open this week.
Bhatia’s most significant tournament was the 2021 Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. It was there that he sent an Instagram direct message to Schultz. She met him at the tournament and eventually became his girlfriend and part-time caddie.
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Schultz said, who demonstrated Saturday just how good a girlfriend she is.
“Luckily we’re staying right here on property. I was on 6 green, which is almost the farthest point from the hotel,” she said. “So I’m swerving through the crowd, trying to get to the hotel room, got a pair of pants, a rules official gave me a ride back and I got them to him by 8 green. I think he changed in a Porta-Potty.
“Then unfortunately it happened again on 15 and I didn’t have an extra pair."
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Akshay Bhatia becomes fan favorite at Honda Classic after Saturday strip
