It may have been a longer wait than planned, but Akshay Bhatia is relishing connecting with his family’s background as he makes his Hero Indian Open debut this week on the DP World Tour.
Born in California, Bhatia’s parents are from India and lived in Delhi before moving to the United States, where the American has emerged through the ranks to become one of the world’s most prominent golfers.
At the age of 24, he is making his first competitive appearance in India, something which would have materialised in 2020 – during his rookie year as a professional – only for the Covid-19 pandemic to put pay to those plans.
“I’m very excited,” said Bhatia, a global ambassador for title sponsor Hero MotoCorp. "I have always wanted to do this and just happy to finally make it work.
“It’s a place that obviously means a lot to us [as a family].
"Just obviously being on the PGA TOUR now and to be Indian heritage and to compete and have a lot of fans based here is really cool."
Bhatia arrives at DLF Golf & Country Club, located on the outskirts of New Delhi, as the top-ranked player in the field after a fine recent run of form stateside on the PGA TOUR.
Earlier this month, he claimed his third PGA TOUR title with victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational which saw him then rise to a career-high 19th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Bhatia made his Rolex Series debut on the DP World Tour at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last year and is embracing the chance again to take his game internationally.
"I mean, this is a big step," he said. "I never would have dreamt about doing this as a kid.
READ MORE
• Behind the history of DLF Golf & Country Club
"Obviously, to come here and to inspire people and to play in front of people that look up to me is really, really cool. So, I'm very blessed to be in this position.
"I mean, it's definitely very cool, again, at my age, 24 years old, to travel the world.
"There's a couple of familiar faces that I get to see, especially in Dubai and here and so it's just really cool for me to be able to do this as a younger person, to explore different countries, different cultures.
"So, I'm very fortunate to have that, and hopefully I can do more and more as I get older."
to compete and have a lot of fans based here is really cool
Since back-to-back missed cuts in his opening two starts of the year on the PGA TOUR, Bhatia has finished no worse than a tie for 16th across his subsequent five starts, rising from 60th to 22nd.
Asked what he put his great run of results down to, he replied: "I would say just a little bit of change in my team, which has been really great for me.
"My wife has been great. She gave me a pretty hard talk after The American Express, which I really think switched my mindset a lot.
"She doesn't do that often, but she did it when I needed it and it really changed kind of the start of my year."
While confidence is high as he continues his build-up towards the first Major Championship of the year at the Masters Tournament next month, Bhatia is under no illusions that DLF Golf and Country Club will pose a stern test.
At last year's edition, just three players finished under par in India and he sees this week as a great barometer of how he could fare at Augusta National.
"It's a demanding golf course here, similar grass. So, it'll be definitely a challenge," he said.
"But it's a great preparation for Augusta National, a very tough golf course, with swirly winds similar to here.
"So, I'm looking forward to kind of seeing how this place plays out. And I feel like if you can be very tough mentally this week, that really helps you for the next coming weeks."
