Every Sunday brings something different. One week there are tears in the eyes of the champion. The other has flushed cheeks and words of sorrow from the runners-up. This week brought the first playoff at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in nearly 30 years. And with that, a reminder:
The whole season has shown us something. And Akshay Bhatia was watching closely enough to remind us after he scored the winner.
“This game is so crazy,” he told Cara Banks just minutes after his win. “It’s been crazy these last two weeks, seeing (Jacob) Bridgeman win and then seeing Nico (Echavarria) win, and so you never know what can happen in this game.”
If you only tune in on Sundays, that’s been the story of the year, hasn’t it? You just never know. That’s all we’ve seen lately! The Bridgeman character he’s referring to almost blew a lead on the back nine at the Genesis Invitational two weeks ago after starting the day six shots ahead. (He Quite calmly shared the last one he won with one.) The Nico character he’s referring to was last week’s winner via a Shane Lowry collapse. Lowry held a three-shot lead with three to play before washing a few shots in the water. You just never know.
Bhatia was never alone in leading this week’s tournament until that final shot fell. Daniel Berger, runner-up, was trying to go wire-to-wire, something that had never been done in the legendary tournament. The 32-year-old Floridian had a five-stroke lead through 36 holes. Then a one-shot lead at 54. And then suddenly, a three-shot lead with just six to play. He was in cruise control, but you just never know.
;)
Akshay Bhatia’s Clubs: What’s in His Arnold Palmer Invitational Winning Bag
Jack Hirsch
Chris Gotterup had half a hole to play in it WM Phoenix Open last monthlanding two shots back with an expected win probability of 0.7%. (Ie, win once or twice in 200 attempts.) It was Super Bowl Sunday, so maybe you weren’t watching, or maybe you were focused on making an appetizer, or going to the football watch party … while Gotterup hung on those chances, birdied the foul, squeezed into a playoff and made the 40-footer. You just never know.
Perhaps that’s what Bhatia was thinking as he played the par-5 16th hole, in which he hit perhaps the best 6-iron of his life for a tap-in eagle, moving to the back one. It’s probably the shot he’ll remember most from this tournament, given how it took three solid pars to lift the trophy.
He did, at least, admit to thinking about that mentality when he turned on the back nine. Bhatia had played the front in two pars, making it the 9th. He was five behind Berger at that point and upset.
“So I went to the 10th tee very angry,” he said afterward, wearing the red jersey that the API winner gets. “That was the first time I really showed some frustration. But I told (my dad, Joe Greiner) you know, we hit a 4-pointer yesterday on this side, let’s try and do it again. And you never know in this game.”
