United States
United States
Akshay Bhatia
Results & Scorecards
Season Recap
2026 Season
Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard
Earned his third PGA TOUR title as he defeated Daniel Berger on the first playoff hole, the par-4 18th at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club and Lodge. Trailed Berger by five strokes with nine holes remaining in the final round, but made four consecutive birdies on Nos. 10-13 and eagled the par-5 16th as he carded a 5-under 31 on the back nine, the lowest final-round back nine by a winner of the event since 2018 (Rory McIlroy/31), and forced the first playoff at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard since 1999. Improved to 3-0 in playoffs on TOUR, having previously defeated Denny McCarthy to win the 2024 Valero Texas Open and Patrick Rodgers to win the 2023 Barracuda Championship. Led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (10.605) and Strokes Gained: Around the Green (5.664), which marked the second-best combined Strokes Gained: Around the Green and Putting performance of the ShotLink era (since 2003), only behind Aaron Baddeley at the 2004 Chrysler Classic of Tucson. Became the fourth PGA TOUR winner in the ShotLink era who led the field in both Strokes Gained: Around the Green and Strokes Gained: Putting, following Geoff Ogilvy (2009 Sentry), Tiger Woods (2009 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard), and Jordan Spieth (2016 Sentry). Notably finished with -3.637 Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, the second-worst performance in the category by a winner in the ShotLink era (Cameron Smith/2022 PLAYERS Championship).

