Jordan Spieth remembers being 21, an age where Spieth says, “All you got to do is golf.” On Saturday at Kapalua, the 30-year-old Spieth, a father of two, played 18 holes alongside 21-year-old Akshay Bhatia.
Spieth was left “extremely impressed.” By the ball flight, the shot-shaping, the use of the ground, the short-game arsenal. But most of all…
“The way he putted, I mean, he had to have gained four or five [strokes] on the greens today,” Spieth said of Bhatia, “and the ones that didn’t go in looked like they were going in.”
Spieth was close. Bhatia gained 3.408 strokes during his third round of The Sentry. His 1.865 per round mark for the week leads the 59-player field.
The only real blemish during a 7-under 66 by Bhatia’s long putter, which debuted last fall, was a three-putt from 60 feet on the par-5 finishing hole.
“That’s what I’m going to think about,” Bhatia said of the three-jack at the last, which kept Bhatia at 20 under and eventually a shot behind 54-hole leader Chris Kirk.
“But it was a good day,” Bhatia added.
Bhatia hasn’t had too many putting days in his young PGA Tour career like Saturday, where he rolled in 27 putts totaling over 113 feet. He ranked No. 183 out of 193 eligible players in strokes gained putting last season, prompting a switch to the broomstick prior to the Fortinet Championship.
Using a long putter at age 21? According to PGATour.com’s Sean Martin, Bhatia talked with fellow broomstick user Lucas Glover, who told the youngster, “Don’t forget, all those people that you’re worried about judging you want to be you.”
“Statistically, my putting has not been good,” Bhatia said. “I think stats can be a little skewed sometimes, but it’s just something we sat down and talked about, my mental coach, my putting coach, my swing coach, everyone was kind of involved in what decision I needed to make. For me, the speed’s just a lot easier. Longer putts you just kind of feels a little more free. I’m not thinking as much, I’m just kind of visualizing and then hitting.”
Bhatia only used the long putter once in Napa, however, and he didn’t break it out again until the fall-ending RSM Classic. But even then the broomstick was benched for a round.
“Maybe I’ll change tomorrow, I don’t know,” Bhatia quipped. “I’m kidding.”
The Sentry will indeed be Bhatia’s first full event with the long putter.
On Saturday’s Golf Channel broadcast, new analyst Kevin Kisner talked about his belief that players always move toward the mean by the end of a tournament. In Bhatia’s case, Kisner anticipated Bhatia needing to rely on something other than his putting on Sunday at Kapalua.
Regardless of whether he cools off on the greens or not, Bhatia entered the week with a “no-judgment attitude” on his putter.
“If I make a lot of putts or miss a lot of putts, I’m not judging the putter, specifically,” Bhatia explained. “So far, it’s been feeling really good. I’m excited to see how I feel with the lead or with expectations that I have on myself of winning tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”
Added Spieth, who according to Justin Ray is one of just two Americans in the past 30 years along with Tiger Woods to win multiple times on Tour before turning 22 (With a win Sunday, Bhatia could be the third): “On the greens … if he plays like that starting one back, I’ll have to do something special.”