Fort Worth (US): Indian-American golfer Akshay Bhatia charged his way into contention with a second round 4-under 66 to rise to tied fifth in the standings at the Charles Schwab Challenge here.
Bhatia played a bogey-free round with four birdies, two birdies on either side of the Colonial Country Club.
Having started on the front nine, Bhatia picked up his first birdie of the round on the fifth hole and then followed that with another on the sixth. On the back nine, Bhatia gained two more shots on the 12th and 16th holes. His total after two days is seven-under par and is sitting four behind the leaders Ben Griffin (63) and Matt Schmid (63).
“I came here with a very different mindset that I haven’t had this year,” Bhatia said. “Today has felt very similar to a lot of rounds I’ve had where I get off to nice starts and then it feels like such a grind to try and have a good score. Today I flipped it a little bit.”
Bhatia opened the season with four made cuts and a pair of ninth-place finishes. He tied for third at THE PLAYERS.
His next start came at the Valero Texas Open, a tournament he won in 2024. He missed the cut in San Antonio after rounds of 74-70.
The next five starts included two missed cuts, including the partnership-style Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and no finish higher than a share of 42nd place.
His statistics tell the story best. He ranks ninth this season in Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s 46th in Approach the Green. So far, so good. But he’s 118th off the Tee.
“I have one or two really bad golf swings that, I mean, cost me a lot of shots,” Bhatia said.
Most of them happen with the driver. He cracked the face of his gamer at the Masters. Nothing has been the same since. Most of his misses drift to the left, a block for the left-hander. Some snap right. So it’s not just one problem. It’s two.
“My golf swing is nowhere close where I want it to be,” Bhatia said. “I can get away with it with my irons just because I hit so many off-speed shots. I have pretty good face control there. When it comes do driver, I step up and don’t really know where it’s going to go sometimes.”
But few of the twisting and turning fairways of a firming Colonial really demand driver anyway. Bhatia used his on just five holes. He also brought a shorter, 10-degree mini-driver.
