‘Sky’s the limit’ for Akshay Bhatia in sophomore Korn Ferry Tour season

What do Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy and Kobe Bryant have in common?

They’re sources of inspiration for Akshay Bhatia, the spunky, smooth-swinging 20-year-old who is set to chase a PGA TOUR card in his second Korn Ferry Tour season, commencing with his title defense at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay, which begins Sunday.

A title defense on the Korn Ferry Tour is a bittersweet distinction – a victory moves a player more than halfway toward the necessary points allotment to earn a TOUR card, and a return to the pathway circuit as a tournament winner means uneven play elsewhere in the season.

But Bhatia figures he had, and has, plenty to learn. He’s yet to reach legal drinking age, after all. Think of a TOUR card as a PhD in professional golf, and pertinent coursework remains. The 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season can provide just that.

“Golf is golf; it’s everything around it that makes it very challenging,” Bhatia said at The RSM Classic last fall, where he made the cut as a Monday qualifier (including a second-round 63) and finished 45th.

“You’re never going to figure out golf, but if you can figure out certain things, become a little better in one part of the game, it goes a long way.”

Last year, Bhatia stuffed a wedge to tap-in range on the 72nd hole at Sandals Emerald Bay GC to cement a two-stroke win over Paul Haley II. He entered that week as a conditional Korn Ferry Tour member with his girlfriend Presleigh Schultz on the bag. He departed with full status and the distinction as the third youngest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history, behind only Jason Day and Sungjae Im.

At the time, it seemed like a PGA TOUR card was inevitable and that anything less would be a disappointment. As Bhatia prepares to begin his sophomore Korn Ferry Tour campaign, though, it’s all positive. He learned how to juggle the demands of travel, pro-ams, sponsor obligations and the like. He navigated a back injury suffered in February, played through it for a time, and didn’t feel 100% until the season’s conclusion.

Bhatia turned pro at 17 and didn’t attend college, but he’s treating the Korn Ferry Tour as higher education. Now he eyes his de facto PhD via a top-30 spot in the season-long standings.

It’s an intricate puzzle, and Bhatia takes clues from a variety of sources.

After winning at Great Exuma to begin the 2022 season, Bhatia suddenly found his name atop the Korn Ferry Tour Points List. The results slowed as he struggled through injury, though; in his next seven starts, he missed four cuts and withdrew twice. It was a vicious cycle of feeling like he had to play in order to keep his name from falling on the standings, which in turn limited his ability to return to full strength.

Bhatia remained top-10 in the standings in late March, but he fell outside the top 25 (last year’s benchmark for TOUR status) by mid-June. He ultimately finished No. 30 on the Regular Season Points List to fall shy of a TOUR card, then missed all three cuts in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. It meant a waiting game until 2023.

Amidst his slide down the standings, Bhatia perused an article about Patrick Cantlay that referenced the 2013 Korn Ferry Tour season. Cantlay won in Bogota that February but suffered a back injury mid-season, played through pain and fell outside the top 25 by the end of the Regular Season. He earned his TOUR card with a runner-up at the Hotel Fitness Championship in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, then shut things down again, and he navigated that injury for the better part of four years.

Not an apples-to-apples comparison, but the story resonated with Bhatia. Even if a victory wasn’t enough for a TOUR card, the setback wouldn’t define his career.

“Seeing your name drop and drop and drop is not a good feeling,” Bhatia said. “It’s really hard seeing yourself doing that. Winning early in the year, you expect to get your card. If you win, you feel like it’s pretty easy going from here. But last year, the Korn Ferry Tour players were some of the best ever … Robby (Shelton) was the only guy to win twice, and that shows a lot.

“Wherever you finish in the standings, it doesn’t matter. That doesn’t define who you are. Even if you (earn a TOUR card), there’s still a lot of work to be done when you get out (on the PGA TOUR). The goal is not just to get my card or be the 30th guy. It’s to be the best player in the world one day.”

To accomplish that goal, he’ll need to supplant McIlroy, another high performer whose trajectory has proven instructive. McIlroy has reached world No. 1, fallen outside the top 10, and worked his way back to the mountaintop, where he currently resides.

McIlroy has noted that at times, it can be easier to chase No. 1 than to stay there. A natural sense of complacency can attempt to creep in; it must be diagnosed and extinguished.

There’s always someone coming for the top spot. The same is true for PGA TOUR cards via the Korn Ferry Tour.

“It doesn’t seem like anything bothers him, and he works really hard,” Bhatia said of McIlroy. “That’s someone I want to be one day, for sure.”

Another who was never satisfied: Bryant. The late Los Angeles Lakers legend was an 18-time NBA All-Star and five-time champion. He constantly reinvented himself throughout his career, refusing to let opponents gain an extra edge. He did it in large part by outworking them.

Everyone on the Korn Ferry Tour works hard, Bhatia knows. The PGA TOUR is the ultimate carrot. The courtesy cars, multimillion-dollar purses, gaggles of fans? Those are reserved for the game’s elite.

Bhatia has clearly demonstrated immense talent on the golf course, as has been documented for years. He qualified for the Walker Cup as a high schooler. He finished top-10 at the TOUR’s Fortinet Championship at age 18. He accrued wins on mini-tours as a teenager.

But talent alone is not enough, and the continuous education process has cemented that knowledge. Bryant encapsulated his trademark mamba mentality with the mantra, “Hard work outweighs talent every time.”

Bhatia intends to always possess both.   

“I’ve always loved how Kobe Bryant had that mamba mentality,” Bhatia said. “It’s hard to create it and it’s hard to believe it, but if you can do that, and if I can do that at my age, I think the sky’s the limit.”