SAN ANTONIO — Some PGA Tour players insist they’re in such a zone when they climb to the top of the leaderboard that they’re not concerned with how others are playing or what scores they’re shooting.
Akshay Bhatia is not that guy.
After Friday’s second round of the 2024 Valero Texas Open Bhatia admitted that he’s prone to checking out where he sits on the board, and he continued that trend on Friday.
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said. “I’ll peek at it and it’s fun, I guess. It’s like when you’re in a good spot and you’re in contention, that’s where you want to be and it’s exciting. You look at that leaderboard and you say, wow, this is where I want to be. It’s a good thing, I think.”
Bhatia has seen his name atop that board for much of the first two days, leading off our five things to know after 36 holes of play:
Akshay Bhatia putts on the 18th hole during the second round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Imagine if he was playing well.
Akshay Bhatia might have been given a slight break with his tee time, giving him a window in which the winds at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course stayed manageable, but the 22-year-old put on another show in Central Texas on Friday. He followed up his scintillating 63 on Thursday by teasing the field a bit, dropping a couple shots on his first nine holes, but backed it up with a 33 on his final nine to maintain a healthy lead.
While many others were struggling with the wind on the Greg Norman design, Bhatia stayed smooth and steady in finishing with a 70 to close the day at 11 under.
Yet Bhatia wasn’t impressed with his own play, noting that the day was a bit of a slog.
“It was stressful, for sure, wasn’t my best stuff,” he said. “I felt like I struggled a lot off the tee today, golf swing didn’t feel great with any of the longer stuff, but iron play was still phenomenal, wedges were good, made some nice putts. I know I’m reading the greens really good so I kind of understand when I’m missing putts right now why that’s happening. So it’s good, a good kind of understanding of kind of where I need to improve the next couple days.”
Rather than skipping back to his hotel room with the big edge, Bhatia hung around for Smylie Kaufman’s Golf Channel ‘Happy Hour’ and insisted he’d rather sit and watch more golf than lay in the resort’s lazy river.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland prepares to putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
In Wednesday’s pre-tournament press conference, Rory McIlroy said that “good golf at Augusta feels like boring golf,” and with just a few days until he makes a trip to Augusta National, the four-time major champion followed that script in posting a ho-hum 70 that included one bogey, three birdies and a whole lot of pars.
He sits at 5 under, six shots behind leader Bhatia at the tournament’s midpoint.
“Yeah, I can do it,” McIlroy said. “At LACC, the U.S. Open last year is probably the best example of me doing that, I was very patient. St. Andrews a little bit, even though the scoring was low. Same sort of thing, you pick and choose where you’re aggressive and then you’re conservative a lot of the time. You add it up at the end of the week, you’re always going to be pretty close.
“I think it’s an acceptance that you’re going to make a lot of pars, it’s maybe going to feel frustrating at times, but knowing that you’re not losing ground by doing it and accepting that fact, that’s a big key to it.”
Tommy Fleetwood of England prepares to putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Tommy Fleetwood posted a bogey-free round on Friday, with 15 pars and a string of three consecutive birdies on Nos. 13-15. He’s in a solid position heading into the weekend at 4 under, seven strokes behind Bhatia, but in a tie for seventh, so he won’t have a ton of players to leapfrog.
But the 33-year-old did so without his regular caddie, Ian Finnis, who has been dealing with an illness.
“He was sick before Christmas,” Fleetwood told PGA Tour.com. “He came out at the start of the year, and he’s basically had some sort of infection. It’s been prolonged.”
Fleetwood recruited a local bagman when he asked Adrian Rietveld, a senior manager at TaylorMade who works closely with Fleetwood and a number of other top players with equipment issues. Rietveld lives in San Antonio. Finnis is expected to return to Fleetwood’s side for the 2024 Masters.
Jordan Spieth prepares to putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
The rollercoaster ride that has been Jordan Spieth’s 2024 season continued on Friday as the former University of Texas star and local favorite came out firing to get comfortably inside the cutline, but then slipped a little again as the day progressed.
Spieth, who was languishing at 4 over through the first 14 holes on Thursday before making an ace that sparked him back to a respectable 73, finished with a 68 on Friday to get into a tie for 11th after 36 holes.
But the day could have been so much better.
Spieth birdied four of his first five holes and as others were struggling it looked like he might fly up the leaderboard and challenge Bhatia. Instead, he had an uneven final nine with three birdies, three bogeys and three pars and sits at 4 under.
But here’s a fun way to finish the day — Spieth was given a car for his hole-in-one during the opening round of play and Rickie Fowler even added a little shine to the new vehicle.
Frustration gets the best of all players at times, and when you’re in the fishbowl that is the PGA Tour, with cameras recording at every nook and cranny, it’s likely an angry moment will not go unnoticed.
But here’s to Jimmy Walker, 2015 winner of the Valero Texas Open, for putting his heated moment on while Rory McIlroy was sitting on Smylie Kaufman’s ‘Happy Hour’ segment.
After taking a step towards his ball on the eighth hole, Walker snapped the putter head right off the shaft.
“I must say, of things I expected to happen just then, I don’t think I expected the club to snap in half,” Kaufman said.
“I didn’t think Jimmy was that strong,” McIlroy joked.
