When pumping his arms to make a 12-foot birdie on Sunday that forced a playoff, Akshay Bhatia injured his left shoulder and almost celebrated too soon. After rallying to defeat ill-fated Denny McCarthy in the Texas Open and secure a spot to the Masters, he made eagle on the opening extra hole.

In many ways, the finish was crazy.

McCarthy was six strokes behind at the TPC San Antonio heading into the back nine. However, he birdied eight of the nine holes, including the final seven, and finished with a 9-under 63 after hitting a 12-foot birdie. For Bhatia to have a chance, he needed to make his birdie putt from the same range.

In his crunch moment, he raised his arms to shake them after making it for a 67. He claims that’s when he felt his shoulder, which had previously caused him problems, pop out of its socket.

In the playoff, Bhatia made a hole-in-one with his tee shot and a 5-iron.

McCarthy was the first player to tee off and, in his 174th PGA Tour tournament without a victory, he chunked a wedge so horribly that he instantly hung his head. The ball ended up in the middle of a brook about 20 yards short.

Subsequently, Bhatia requested medical attention and momentarily left the course to get his shoulder bandaged. He came back and hit the wedge at six feet. He made it in three putts to win, his second victory on the PGA Tour.

Bhatia, 22, who started professional five years ago, was victorious at the Barracuda Championship in the previous summer. He was not admitted to the Masters since it was held in opposition to the British Open.

On his first visit to Augusta National, this one did. Furthermore, Bhatia participated in the Drive, Chip, and Putt National Finals at the home of the Masters ten years prior. He has granted his mother’s wish and can now play on greens other than the 18th.

“This is awesome,” he said. “It’s hard to win out there as it showed today. My mom’s birthday was April 1 and her wish was to go to the Masters.”

McCarthy had earned his spot by placing in the top 50 worldwide the previous year, but at this point, the illusive PGA Tour trophy was the only thing that mattered. Viktor Hovland defeated him at the Memorial in a playoff game last year.

Given the circumstances, this could have been considerably more devastating. After Bhatia, who had a 4-shot lead going into the final round, birdied three of the first four holes and extended his lead to six shots at the turn, McCarthy appeared to have little chance.

On the tenth hole, Bhatia missed a 5-foot par putt, and McCarthy, one of the best putters in the world, sank an 18-footer for a birdie, setting up a 2-shot swing. After Bhatia responded with a birdie on the eleventh, the rest of the way was McCarthyesque.

On the 12th, he made a 30-footer; on the long par-3 13th, he hammered a 5-iron to 4 feet; on the par-5 14th, he made from 10 feet; on the 15th, he nailed a 40-foot chip; and on the 16th, he closed in one shot with a 12-foot birdie putt.

They were tied going into the 18th hole when Bhatia missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the reachable par-4 17th hole, and McCarthy made a birdie putt from the rough.

McCarthy putted first for his birdie and stood aside, coming the closest he has ever come to victory. Subsequently, Bhatia had a pivotal moment of his own to tie him at 20-under 268 and force a playoff that McCarthy lost miserably.

“Wish I could have had that wedge shot back there,” McCarthy said. “I backed off a couple times. There was a bug on my ball and some noise in the stands and a bug jumped back on my ball. I probably should have backed away again, but I thought I could kind of not let it distract me and maybe it did a little. Maybe a learning experience for me.”

In his last tournament before the Masters, Rory McIlroy finished alone in third place with a closing score of 66, the lone major preventing him from completing a career Grand Slam.

At the start of the year in Dubai, McIlroy finished second and then won three weeks in a row. On the PGA Tour, this was his first top ten finish.

“I’m in a better spot than I was a few weeks ago,” he stated. It was pleasant to play in a golf tournament where there was a round like this one today. Even though I’ll undoubtedly finish a good number of strokes behind Denny and Akshay, I played fairly well under really challenging circumstances.”

Nine shots from the playoffs, he finished.

The first Drive, Chip, and Putt finalist to compete in the Masters is Bhatia. Augusta National has introduced various changes, one of which being the competitiveness. The club also launched the Asia-Pacific Amateur, which produced future green jacket winner Hideki Matsuyama, who was a young champion.

“I achieved the desired outcome,” Bhatia declared.

Visiting Augusta National is part of that. With his second PGA Tour victory, he also climbs up to No. 34 in the world and qualifies for the U.S. Open.

Topics #Akshay Bhatia Wins #Texas Open playoffs