When it comes to identifying a top golfing talent, there’ll be few in the modern game as well placed to do so than the great Phil Mickelson.
Six-time major winner Mickelson has had one of the greatest careers ever seen on the PGA Tour and he’s now doing his own thing over on the LIV Golf tour.
Of course, Mickelson is very much known for being one of golf’s all-time great left-handed players and he adopted the nickname ‘Lefty’ for much of his career.
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Suffice to say, then, that Mickelson loves to see a fellow lefty doing well and back in 2021, one current PGA Tour star, Akshay Bhatia, caught his eye.
What Phil Mickelson said about Akshay Bhatia when he first saw him play
Back at the 2021 US Open, Mickelson was coming off the back of playing alongside Bhatia, who at the time was a relative unknown and still just a teenager.
However, after impressing Mickelson, the six-time major winner made a big prediction about Bhatia which is already on its way to becoming true.
“I love seeing left-handed golfers thrive, and yesterday watching a young lefty win on TOUR for the first time was impressive. Akshay is not far behind. He’s a very impressive golfer.
“I think he’s going to have a lot of success and a long career,” Mickelson said back in 2021.
Who is Akshay Bhatia?
Akshay Bhatia is a 21-year-old American golfer who hails from California.
He made his PGA Tour debut in 2019 at the Valspar Open before going on to have more success on the Korn Ferry Tour between then and his US Open debut in 2021.
In that US Open debut, where he played alongside Mickelson, Bhatia made the cut and finished inside the top 60 in his first ever major, cementing himself as a future star.
Akshay Bhatia’s PGA Tour wins
At just 22, Bhatia has already got himself in the winner’s circle and won twice on the PGA Tour.
His first taste of success came in 2023 when he won the Barracuda Championship in a playoff against Patrick Rodgers.
That playoff win served him well as he worked towards winning his second PGA Tour title, this time as he had to overcome Denny McCarthy in a playoff at the Valero Texas Open in 2024.
In terms of majors, Bhatia’s best finish so far is a tie for 16th at the US Open in 2024. He also finished 35th in his first Masters this year as well, further enhancing his reputation as one of golf’s main up and comers.
What’s been said about Akshay Bhatia?
It’s safe to say that that Bhatia has impressed a number of pundits and fellow players on the PGA Tour so far.
Indeed, Smylie Kaufman suggested Bhatia should have been picked for the Presidents Cup, such was his impressive form in 2024.
“He seems like he fits that same mould and category of Min Woo Lee. Young star, very popular in the game, so to your point on wanting Min Loo picked on the international team, for me if you’re the US Team and you say ‘hey, we want to develop our young stars a bit’ then Akshay would have been a make sense pick in that regard,” Kaufman said at the time.
Min Woo Lee is also a big fan of Bhatia, having known him for quite some time and becoming good friends.
Going into a Ryder Cup year in 2025, Bhatia could well end up being one of the players who makes a late charge to make the team for Keegan Bradley.
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