Flourtown, PA– Indian-American golfer Akshay Bhatia surged into contention at the Truist Championship with a stellar opening round of 7-under-par 63 at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course. Bhatia’s strong performance has him tied for third alongside Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, and Sepp Straka, trailing leader Keith Mitchell by two strokes.
Mitchell, one of four sponsor exemptions this week, fired a blistering 9-under 61 to break the course record, previously set at 65 by Colin St. Maxen, Zac Blair, and Angus Flanagan. Denny McCarthy sits in solo second after carding a 62.
Bhatia, who finished third at The Players Championship earlier this year, produced a round highlighted by a field-best 10 birdies. Starting on the back nine, he opened with a 19-foot birdie on the 10th hole but immediately gave it back with a bogey on the 11th. He quickly recovered, reeling off five consecutive birdies from holes 13 through 17.
After making the turn, Bhatia bogeyed the first hole but then caught fire again with three straight birdies from holes 4 to 6. A bogey on the eighth was offset by a closing 13-foot birdie on the ninth, capping off a roller-coaster but highly effective round.
His sharp iron play and confident putting were keys to the low score, with Bhatia tied for first in putts per green in regulation—an indication of his precision on approach shots and efficiency on the greens.
Elsewhere, Indo-British golfer Aaron Rai posted a 5-under 65 to finish the day tied for 11th, while Indian-American Sahith Theegala carded a 1-under 69, leaving him tied for 55th.
Rory McIlroy, playing his first individual event since completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters, opened with a solid 4-under 66. In total, 64 players finished under par on the first day of the $20 million Signature Event, the sixth of the PGA Tour season. (Source: IANS)
