Bhatia outlasts McCarthy in Playoff, Nelly Korda makes it 4 straight wins | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
April 7th, 2024

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the professional golfing world, the PGA Tour made its final stop in Texas before the Masters at the Valero Texas Open, and the LPGA Tour was in Las Vegas for the T-Mobile Match Play tournament. 

Valero Texas Open - Tournament History 

The Valero Texas Open is one of the oldest events on the PGA Tour (3rd oldest), dating all the way back to 1922. Played at the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio, the winner of this event has been under par in every edition since 1934 and has a reputation for being one of the easier courses to score at. Being played in Texas however, does bring high winds into play a lot, which is the course’s main defense. Many of the game’s biggest names have conquered the oaks course, including Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and Arnold Palmer, who won the tournament three consecutive years in 1960-1962.

Another fun wrinkle to the Texas Open is that it represents the last chance for players to qualify for The Masters. A non-qualified player can earn the last spot in the field at Augusta with a win. In recent years, this tournament has produced some unique winners and finishes. The most recent five winners are as follows:

2024 - Akshay Bhatia (-20)
2023 - Corey Conners (-15)
2022 - JJ Spaun (-13)
2021 - Jordan Spieth (-18) 
2019 - Corey Conners (-20)

The Big Swing 

This week the big swing belongs to 22-year-old lefty Akshay Bhatia, who was amongst the many players who were in the field this week and hoping to punch their ticket to Augusta next week. Bhatia has already won once before on the PGA Tour, but his current world rank isn’t high enough to qualify him for the prestigious field. Entering the week, Bhatia was coming off a couple of nice weeks at the Valspar Championship and Houston Open, finishing T17 and T11 respectively. Shaping shots and playing in the wind seemed to fit Bhatia’s game heading into the week, and that much was apparent after the first two rounds. 

Bhatia opened Thursday with a blistering 63 and took control of the tournament early. He backed it up on Friday with a 70 in difficult conditions, extending his lead heading to the weekend. With Augusta National in his sights, Bhatia played another good round on Saturday, posting 68 and carrying a four shot lead heading to Sunday. The big names in the field this week weren’t the ones threatening his lead. His biggest threat was Denny McCarthy, one of the streakiest players and hottest putters in the game. 

As the final round began, it was clear that Bhatia was in control. He opened his round with birdies on Nos. 1, 2, and 4 and kept a clean card on the front nine while extending his lead to six shots. 

Just as the tournament was seemingly over, McCarthy caught fire. McCarthy birdied the 10th hole and made par at No. 11 before rattling off seven consecutive birdies to close his final round. He shot a back nine 28 (8-under par) which forced Bhatia to drain a mid-range birdie putt at the 72nd hole just to force a playoff. 

To make things even more strange, as the duo made their way back to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole, Bhatia could be seen working on his shoulder which appeared to be in pain after he performed fist pump celebration on the 18th green. 

Each player elected to lay up on the par-5, setting up flip wedges into the green that would decide the tournament. As Bhatia continued to get treatment for his shoulder injury, McCarthy played his third shot from a comfortable wedge distance but caught more turf than he anticipated, and the ball fell woefully short of the green and into the penalty area guarding the green.

Even after witnessing McCarthy’s third, Bhatia still elected to have his shoulder taped up by his trainer prior to playing his approach. Bhatia then snuggled his approach to within six feet, all but clinching the victory. He would convert the birdie putt for his second career PGA Tour win and receive the final invitation to this year's Masters Tournament and tee it up at Augusta for the first time.

Winner’s Bag - Akshay Bhatia 

Callaway staffer Akshay Bhatia earned his second PGA Tour victory and punched his ticket to Augusta National in dramatic fashion on Sunday at the Valero Texas Open. Bhatia is one of the few to play one consistent brand throughout his bag. While it seems like Callaway hasn’t had much success in terms of professional victories lately, Akshay was able to get it done with an all Callaway setup in his bag. Off the tee, Bhatia plays the Callaway Rogue ST Max LS (9 degrees), which is now a couple of generations old. He only carries one fairway wood, the Callaway Ai Smoke Max (15 degrees). Bhatia also carries a Callaway Apex UW prototype (19 degrees), seemingly one of the more popular Callaway clubs on the PGA Tour. On top of the utility wood, Akshay plays a utility iron in the Callaway X Forged UT (21 degrees). Powering his iron game is a set of Callaway Apex TCB Raw’s (5-PW). Around the greens, Akshay plays a trio of Callaway Jaws Raw wedges (50, 54, and 60 degrees). On the greens, Bhatia is one of the many players to employ a broomstick style putter in the Odyssey Versa Jailbird 380.

Key Stats: 
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 6th
Strokes Gained: Approach to Green- 1st
Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 2nd
Strokes Gained: Putting 24th 
Strokes Gained: Total- T1 

In the World of Women’s Golf 

This week on the LPGA Tour, the ladies best gathered in Las Vegas for a unique match play event. All eyes were on world No. 1 Nelly Korda and her attempt to win a fourth consecutive start. To do so, she would have to take down players like Minjee Lee, Yuka Saso, Leona Maguire, Lydia Ko, and Brooke Henderson. 

The new format featured three rounds of stroke play competition. The top eight players from the stroke play portion would then be seeded from 1-8 based on their scores. Korda was on the outside looking in after the first two rounds, sitting T20 on the leaderboard. But a 69 in the third round, one of the few rounds under par for the day, vaulted her to sixth place and ensuring a spot in the match play portion.

After advancing through the stroke play stage of the tournament, Korda took down Angel Yin in the quarterfinals by a 3&2 score. Korda’s momentum carried into the semifinals, knocking off Narin An 4&3 to set up a championship match against Irishwoman Leona Maguire.

Korda jumped out to a fast lead, going 4-up through the first 7 holes. From that point on Nelly didn’t look back. A couple of missteps on the back nine proved to be no concern for Korda, who played defense well enough to win the championship match 3&2 over Maguire.