Akshay Bhatia makes emotional golf debut in India at Hero Indian Open
After COVID spoiled a planned trip in 2020, Bhatia makes his long-awaited competitive debut in India, the land of his ancestors.
Akshay Bhatia has waited a long time to make his competitive debut in India. He signed a contract in 2019, not long after he turned pro, to compete there in 2020. Back then, Bhatia had no status and was playing on a sponsor's exemption but the tournament was canceled, a casualty of COVID, less than a day before his flight was scheduled to depart.
Six years later, Bhatia made an 18-hour trip to Delhi from Orlando via Amsterdam to experience the homeland of his ancestors at the Hero Indian Open, a DP World Tour event played at DLF Golf and Country Club this week. (This also is why he missed the TGL Finals for Jupiter Links GC. ) "To come here, inspire people and to play in front of people that look up to me is really cool.
I'm very blessed to be in this position," Bhatia said. It didn't go the way Bhatia dreamed of it all these years — he hit his opening tee shot out of bounds, lost a ball and shot 44 on the front nine before battling back to shoot 77. "At least I didn't shoot 80," he said with a self-deprecating smile.
"It's a wild golf course. It's very hard, very narrow and not a lot of scorable holes. " Bhatia, a Hero brand ambassador, is ranked No.