LIV Golf have made some moves already during the off-season, but their work is far from done, with many more PGA Tour stars on their radar.
After Brooks Koepka’s exit from LIV in December, the Saudi-backed outfit have tried to strengthen their ranks by poaching players from the PGA Tour.
And in fairness to LIV Golf, they have made some solid signings. Thomas Detry and Elvis Smylie are set to join LIV but they are still lacking real needle-movers, so to speak.
It has become quite clear over the past 12 months or so that the PGA Tour is the place to play your golf if you’re either a huge star or an aspiring young golfer.
Is this the end of LIV Golf?
The likes of Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im have rejected moves to LIV in favor of remaining on the PGA Tour.
And now, LIV have made yet another move to poach one of the PGA Tour’s brightest young stars.
Akshay Bhatia receives LIV offer to join Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers
23-year-old left-hander Akshay Bhatia has already won two times on the PGA Tour.
He quite clearly has a very bright future in the game, so perhaps it should be no surprise that LIV have made a move to sign him up.
According to the Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard, LIV have made a ‘lucrative’ offer to Bhatia.
However, the man from Northridge, Los Angeles, turned down the Saudi-backed golf league’s approach.
That will be a bitter pill to swallow for LIV.
The PGA Tour hierarchy will be laughing behind the scenes as well after the latest update…
To add insult to injury for LIV Golf, and indeed Mickelson, Bhatia has signed on to TGL’s Jupiter Links team as an alternate.
Mickelson seeing Bhatia reject a move to his HyFlyers team and link up with his great rival, Tiger Woods, would have hurt the six-time major champion badly.
Everything seems to be going wrong for LIV Golf right now as the PGA Tour continue to flex their muscles.
Phil Mickelson’s Akshay Bhatia verdict
Back in 2018 when Bhatia was just a teenager, he played a practice round with now LIV golfer Phil Mickelson at PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course ahead of the American Express.
And Mickelson was hugely impressed with what he saw.
“For me, to play with young kids like Akshay, who are so talented, it actually motivates me and it makes me feel and remember what it felt like to play golf as a kid, when I was a kid, and the love and passion that I have for it because as he starts out on his career, you can see and sense his excitement for the game, his drive, his motivation, his work ethic, and that is infectious,” Mickelson said.
What changes should TGL make in order for you to watch it?
TGL feels a little 'try-hard' right now…
“I enjoy being around, and always have enjoyed being around good talented young players like this, and I’m happy to answer any questions that they may have, but I also feed off of their energy, work ethic, and drive.”
Mickelson was quite clearly very keen to get Bhatia on board at LIV Golf.
However, the two-time PGA Tour winner obviously wanted to create a real legacy in the game, rather than chase a quick buck.
Bhatia deserves a lot of credit for that.
The 23-year-old has a hugely exciting future ahead of him in the game and the fact that he remained loyal to the PGA Tour proves that he has the mindset needed to be really successful.
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