Akshay Bhatia and a rules official on Friday at the Dubai Desert Classic.
Getty Images
Akshay Bhatia saw an opening. He saw an opportunity.
But he apparently did not see the bottom of a sheet of paper.
At the end of Friday, Bhat However, he bogeyed the par-5 13th at Emirates Golf Club sequences to get to seven shots was evident. During the second round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic an unruly tee shot was made. There was a clever second strike. Or so he thought. Had a conversation with a regulation officer. There was a pull. There was some magic. There was a heartache.
Go in order then:
– Tee shot? That went left for the left. It ended up among a collection of trees.
Said an on-air announcer: “Oh, oh boy, oh boy.”
– Smart second strike – although not really? Here, Bhatia looked at his options. He could take the ball to the right, setting up a long third shot. But he saw an opening to the left down the adjacent 8th fairway that would cut the yardage for his third. He talked it over with his caddy. He went with the 8th fairway option.
Said the announcer: “Ideally, you want to try and get it back on the hole you’re playing because you can get big strides, you can see it, you’ve had practice shots from there, but … You can see that’s where he’s going to try to hit him, down there.”
Said a second announcer: “I think he’s just looking for short grass everywhere, right?”
– Conversation with the regulation officer? There was a problem. As Bhatia stood over his third shot, the official was pulled away on a cart. The microphone picks up their conversation.
Said the official, “You just played a ball up here?”
Said Bhatia: “Yes.”
The official said: “This is out of bounds, this fairway.”
Said Bhatia: “That’s it?”
The official said, gesturing, “It’s out of bounds, yes. See the posts here, that white post, that white post?”
Going down 8 out of 13 was a no-no – there was underwear out of bounds. Bhatia, however, argued that a slip he received did not note this. The official then pointed out a white line.
The official said, “You see this white checkered line here, all the way? This is all off limits. So you’re playing the 13th, right?
Said Bhatia: “Yes.”
The official said: “Yes. So you’re off limits, I’m afraid.”
Bhatia again said that he did not see it in the sheet. The official said otherwise. He showed her a piece of white paper. On air, the first announcer said it was written at the end.
“Oh no,” said the host.
– Withdrawal? Bhatia returned to where he had hit his second shot. He now played his fourth shot. This time, he went right, onto 13th Street.
Said the first announcer, commenting on his first shot from the trees: “Well, there’s just one big mistake.”
– Magic? Bhatia threw his fifth shot, with a free metal, to about 12 feet.
Said the second announcer: “Go ahead, knock, knock. Akshay Bhatia. Ah, that’s worth a round of applause.”
– Heartache? Bhatia got just short on his first shot. He finished with a seven.
In the end, though, he turned 18 and made the cut.
“>
