Bhatia won on Sunday when heavy rain wiped out the final round at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga. He and Davis Thompson, a Georgia sophomore, were tied at 2 under after the second round, so the two teed off the first hole at 1 p.m. for a sudden-death playoff.
Bhatia immediately had the upper hand, landing his drive in the right rough while Thompson sent his left and into the water. With his penalty stroke, Thompson hit the green with his third shot and had 35 feet for par. When he missed, Bhatia was able to two-putt for par and the win.
Even though Bhatia has entered a handful of amateur events with older fields – like the Jones Cup – this is his first victory. It will bode well for Bhatia in terms of earning a potential Walker Cup spot for the 2019 match at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England. Bhatia was the only junior golfer selected to the 16-man practice squad in December.
Past that, however, Bhatia’s sights are on professional golf. Golfweek reported late in 2018 that the Wake Forest, N.C.-based player has no plans to play college golf. According to Golfweek reporting, Bhatia hopes to go pro when he turns 18 in January 2020.
Bhatia works with Southern California-based swing coach George Gankas, who is popular among young, powerful up-and-comers. This week, Gankas and another student, Matthew Wolff, made headlines on the West Coast as Wolff made the cut at the Waste Mangaement Phoenix Open and generally wowed fans with his unique swing.
Behind Thompson, first-round leader Will Grimmer ended up in a tie for third with Alex Fitzpatrick, the U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist and a freshman at Wake Forest. Grimmer, an Ohio State senior, had too many bogeys on Saturday and fell from his opening 68 to a second-round 75.
Fitzpatrick, the Englishman, went the other way. He logged six birdies in a second-round 69, which was five shots better than Friday’s 74.
Chandler Eaton and Stephen Franken tied for fifth at even par. Defending champion Garrett Barber, an LSU freshman, tied for ninth at 3 over.
