Golf always needs new faces to keep moving into the new era of the game and Akshay Bhatia believes himself and another PGA Tour are leading the way.
Bhatia is the joint leader at The Players going into the weekend and he has a golden opportunity to win one of the PGA Tour’s biggest events.
At just 23, Bhatia is very much part of a new wave of golfers trying to make a name for themselves. In fact, he’s already won twice on the PGA Tour.
Now, after going into the clubhouse as joint-leader with Min Woo Lee at TPC Sawgrass, Bhatia has spoken of his desire to be the new version of Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler.
Akshay Bhatia compares himself and Min Woo Lee to Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy
Bhatia was straight into the media room after his round saw him go in at 11 under for the tournament at Sawgrass and he was in a good mood speaking to the press.
And when it came to explaining how it feels to be leading with a fellow young player like Min Woo Lee, Bhatia suggested they are the ‘next generation’.
“Yeah, it’s really cool,” Bhatia said. “Obviously we had probably the youngest group in PLAYERS history with me, Nick and Tommy. So it’s pretty amazing how young golf is getting and how many young players there are. It’s refreshing to see.
“I feel like we’re kind of the next generation of the Rory’s and Scottie’s and obviously Tiger’s way up there, but I think it’s really cool. For PGA TOUR U to do what they do and for all three of us to have different kind of paths to the PGA TOUR is really cool.”
Going further on seeing the younger generation do well on the PGA Tour, Bhatia admitted he’s loving seeing the likes of Karl Vilips make a name for himself as well.
“Yeah, it’s really cool. It’s funny, I missed four years of school and so when I see Karl, who just won last week, and Michael — it’s just funny, I’m like, how was school; did you enjoy it,” he added.
“So it’s really cool. I feel like we all knew we were going to be here at some point. We obviously played the AJGA event here and I think there was a handful of people that I knew would make it out here. So it’s really cool and it’s nice to have people that are my age that I can kind of relate to a little more.”
Rory McIlroy v Akshay Bhatia at the age of 23
While the comments from Bhatia here are admirable and he does make a valid point, both he and Min Woo Lee are some way off being as good as Rory McIlroy was at their age.
For example, Bhatia has two PGA Tour wins while Min Woo Lee has yet to register on the PGA Tour, albeit he has six wins worldwide.
Rory McIlroy, though, before even reaching the age of 24, had won four major championships and eight PGA Tour events.
| Rory McIlroy from 2013 to 2014 | Statistic |
| Events played | 33 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Top tens | 17 |
| Missed cuts | 1 |
| Money made | $10,082,539 |
Indeed, back in the 2013 season when McIlroy was a 23-year-old, he played 16 events, missing the cut just twice and finishing in the top 10 five times.
One year later, McIlroy dominated, winning the PGA, The Open and the World Golf Championships all in a row to assert his dominance. In fact, in 17 starts that year, McIlroy finished in the top 10 a whopping 12 times and never missed a cut.
Bhatia and Min Woo might be good players and on their way up but compared to a young Rory McIlroy, they are nowhere near.
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