19th Hole
Akshay Bhatia wins Korn Ferry event with caddie who ‘doesn’t know anything about golf’
Golf is on a roll and the new generation have started already.
On just his first official and sixth overall start on the Korn Ferry Tour, 19-year-old Akshay Bhatia eased away down the stretch to win by three shots at the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic, thus becoming only the third teenage winner on the tour, along with Jason Day and Sungjae Im.
Put up as one of our players to follow at the end of 2021, Bhatia has been on the ‘watch list’ since finishing 9th at the 2020 Safeway Classic, but three birdies in four closing holes at the difficult Sandals Resort suggests the powerful left-hander has plenty more to give.
Whilst impressive in contention and victory, the bigger story involves the winning caddie – his girlfriend, Presleigh Schultz, a content creator on social media who, by her own admission, knows little about the sport.
Less than a year ago, the golfer privately messaged Presleigh via one of her social media accounts, and within eight months, The Korn Ferry Tour see fit to tweet: ”It all started with an Instagram DM and a professional golf dream.”
Akshay expanded on the tease, saying, ”I was playing in Valero Texas Open so I was like ‘Hey, let’s meet up.’ You know, she’s never watched golf. Her little brother plays a little bit, but didn’t really know what was going on. And, so we met there and now she’s caddying in my first Korn Ferry event as a member, which is awesome.”
It all started with an Instagram DM and a professional golf dream. pic.twitter.com/K3p5YLiHQh
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) January 15, 2022
Having decided to miss college and turn professional in his late teens, early indications have been mixed, a bundle of missed-cuts offset by that effort at Silverado and a weekend’s play at last year’s US Open at Torrey Pines, but yesterday’s victory puts that all to one side.
Bhatia admitted, ”Well, I ended up turning pro early, didn’t go to college. Got my high school diploma in like three years, two years, and then turned pro when I was 17. So, it was a pretty big jump.”
After this week’s victorious journey, Schultz posted, ”What a week, so proud of @akshaybhatia_1 for his first win on the @kornferrytour such a cool feeling to be by his side this week with him!!”
View this post on Instagram
That isn’t all, though, if the player is to be believed.
“It’s pretty cool to think that at 19-years-old, I can play on the Korn Ferry Tour and I’m a member and you know, I earned every ounce of it. But there’s still bigger goals I want to achieve.”
He’s certainly on his way.
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19th Hole
Man charged with stealing millions of dollars worth of memorabilia from Augusta National
According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a man has been charged in Chicago with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of memorabilia from Augusta National.
The man, Robert Globensky, was charged with transporting the memorabilia across state lines.
The report states that between 2009 and 2022, Globensky allegedly transported “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” from Augusta National “and transported to Tampa, Florida, knowing the same had been stolen, converted and taken by fraud.”
The document was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Per the court records there is no mention that Globensky worked for the golf club.
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19th Hole
Talor Gooch: 54 holes is more exciting for the fans
Over the past few weeks, two of LIV Golf’s biggest stars, Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, have both expressed that they believe LIV could go to 72 holes.
While speaking to BBC Sport, Rahm said he “wouldn’t mind” going to 72 holes.
“If there ever was a way where LIV could go to 72 holes I think it would help all of this argument a lot.”
“The closer I think we can get LIV Golf to some other things the better. I think it would be for some kind of unification to feed into a world tour or something like that.
“I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but I definitely wouldn’t mind going back to 72 holes.”
Phil Mickelson, while speaking after his final round at The Masters, also said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if LIV went to 72 holes.
“I don’t think it makes a difference either way. We’ve got mini-tours playing 54, Champions Tour playing 54. I wouldn’t be surprised if some or all of LIV events went to 72. I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. I enjoy the competition.”
Another one of LIV’s top players, Talor Gooch, expressed on Wednesday that he feels quite differently.
“It’s just funny to me, this arbitrary number of 72.”
“Why is it not 90? “Why is it not 108? We just decided to make that number the number, for what reason?”
“Everyone’s talked about world ranking points and all this stuff, but no one’s talked about what do the fans enjoy more?”
“People want something that’s going to be more exciting. And I personally think that the 54 holes is more exciting for the fans.”
After Gooch’s comments, I decided to get some fan feedback for myself, making a poll on X. With about 4,500 votes in at the time of writing this, roughly 84% of voters in the poll indicated they’d prefer 72 holes to just 16% saying they’d prefer 54.
Rahm prefers 72 holes
Gooch prefers 54 holesWhere do the fans stand?
— Matt Vincenzi (@MattVincenziPGA) April 17, 2024
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19th Hole
Brandel Chamblee has ‘no doubt’ who started the McIlroy/LIV rumor and why
Earlier this week, rumors began to fly that Rory McIlroy could be making a shock switch to LIV Golf which caused quite the stir on social media.
However, on Tuesday, McIlroy emphatically shut down those rumors, telling Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town:
“I honestly don’t know how these things get started. I’ve never been offered a number from LIV and I’ve never contemplated going to LIV. Again I think I’ve made it clear over the past two years that I don’t think it’s something for me.
It’s unfortunate that we have to deal with it and this is the state that our game’s in. I’m obviously here today and I’m playing this PGA Tour event next week and I will play the PGA Tour for the rest of my career.”
Golf Channel analyst and longtime LIV critic, Brandel Chamblee, took to social media before McIlroy’s statement to point the finger at “Saudis/LIV,” who he believes started the rumor:
I have no doubt that this rumor was started by Saudis/LIV… to benefit Saudis/LIV after such a poor showing, as a group, at The Masters.
I’d be very surprised if this turns out to be true. https://t.co/SWNgjHtWSM
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) April 16, 2024
When one user pushed back on Chamblee’s claim that LIV golfers had a poor showing at the Masters, Brandel went further into why he believes the opening major of the year was a failure for the breakaway tour.
You think they paid 3 billion for a few top tens and to be +82 as a group at major? A senior citizen beat some of their “stars” and almost all the game’s of LIV players have deteriorated since they sold their souls to the Saudis who only bought a moment in time… nothing else. https://t.co/xERkYsztIJ
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) April 16, 2024
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