Golf: Bhatia drops a final hole bogey to lose title by one shot
Detroit (USA): Akshay Bhatia three-putted on the 72nd hole and lost by one shot at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Cam Davis, starting the day one behind overnight leaders Bhatia and Aaron Rai, carded 2-under 70 with a birdie on the 17th and a par on the 18th to set a clubhouse target of 18-under.
At the 18th tee, Bhatia, in the final group with Aaron Rai, was one-under for the day and had a total of 18-under. He needed a birdie to win and a par to get into the play-off. But he three-putted from 32 feet and his par putt failed to drop from six feet for a bogey and he fell to second with 72 in the final round and a total of 17-under.
Rai had four pars in his last four holes for a 72 and at 17-under he was also in a tie for second with the other two behind Davis Thompson (68) and Min Woo Lee (69).
Bhatia said, “It sucks. No other way to put it. I mean, just sucks.”
Bhatia hadn’t made a bogey through 54 holes but broke that run on the par-4 third earlier Sunday in Motown. He got that one back immediately, draining a 32-foot birdie on the very next hole. Bhatia added a birdie on the seventh to move to 18-under and was steady enough for the next 10 holes until the par-4 finishing hole. It was his first three-putt of the week and his first miss inside 6 feet.
Bhatia was looking for his second win of the season after capturing the Valero Texas Open in April. He also won last year’s Barracuda Championship while competing on Special Temporary Membership.
This was Bhatia’s third top-10 finish of the season and second in a row after finishing T5 at the Travelers Championship. He moves from No. 15 to No. 11 on the season-long FedExCup standings.
Bhatia entered the final round as the only player in the field without a bogey through 54 holes and made two bogeys in the final round.