Akshay Bhatia Reflects on Valero Texas Open Victory

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00:00 Any professional golfer, you know, the satisfaction that you get from holding a putt on the 18th green

00:05 when you have to have it. I mean, that's that's what you train for. So when you saw Denny make

00:10 that putt on the 18th green and you said, OK, I have to make now what what was going through your

00:17 mind? Was there a sense of calmness or was there a sense of, oh, oh, crap, like what? Take me through

00:23 exactly how you felt when that ball went in the hole. Well, I remember doing the press conference

00:29 and they were kind of say asking me, like, what did you think over that putt? And vocally, you

00:35 know, I'll talk to myself and I just kind of told myself, like, let's freaking go. And right before

00:41 I hit that button, you know, heart was pounding, hands were shaking. And I don't know when I made

00:48 that putt, it was just like it kind of felt like. In a way, I felt like I took the wind out of his

00:54 sails just because he played so incredible. But yeah, I never gave up and I never you know,

01:02 I never backed down. And in that moment, I feel like I've I've been able to form so well under

01:08 that pressure. And there's just no better feeling because you dream about holding those putts and

01:15 whether it's a, you know, signature event, a major, whatever it is, it's such it's just that

01:22 feeling of like you have the biggest balls ever, you know. But that's that's what you got to have

01:31 on the PGA Tour, man. You got to have that. Yeah. And yeah, it's just no better feeling.

01:37 It's just the satisfaction of like. I don't know, just the will that you have to execute in that

01:44 situation is something like no other. Do you do you think that in the let's freaking go moment

01:52 and the fist pump happens, do you wish you would have doubted back just a smidge on the pump fit

01:57 or the the fist pump? Because was if is it true that on the fist pump shoulder came out a little

02:03 bit? Yeah, yeah. It's sub lock. So it kind of slipped out, slipped back in. And, you know,

02:10 then my caddy pounded my hand and I was like, dude, I, you know, from now on, I guess I'll tip

02:18 my cap. But no, no, you got to keep doing that. I remember, you know, shuttling back to the T and

02:26 I was just like, yeah, I told my fiance, I was like, this is my shoulder came out. This doesn't

02:30 feel great. I get to that team. My shoulder feels super loose. Obviously, all the ligaments are

02:34 stretched and I didn't really know what to expect off that in T-Shirt if it was going to kind of

02:39 like Bob again. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just such a crazy situation because I'm obviously

02:47 trying to win a golf tournament and I felt this calmness. But, you know, I went straight to my

02:52 physio. We got it taped and I didn't even see Danny hit in the water. But I heard everyone kind

02:56 of start screaming. And then you didn't even know he hit in the water like you. I just I just,

03:02 you know, I heard the crowd and I was like, OK, well, I guess it could have been in the back

03:06 bunker for all you knew. Yeah. And you saw when you got to your golf ball, you you figured that

03:12 he was in the water, but you weren't positive. No, I was positive when I got back to the golf

03:17 ball. But when I was getting tapes, you know, we were behind the scoreboard and I just heard

03:22 everyone go, oh, and I was like, I either hit in the water in the back bunker and I get back and,

03:28 you know, obviously a great wide shot. And then I'm like counting on my fingers, like one, two,

03:32 three, drop four, hit five. I was like, oh, my God, I just won the golf tournament. And

03:36 it was just crazy because, you know, that's the guy. He just played so freaking good all day and

03:42 just kind of, you know, the one mistake and I listen back to his interview and he said he had

03:49 a bug on his ball. And I think that goes back to the the importance of. Yeah, I think it goes back

03:56 to the importance of like the mental game, because, you know, if he backs off and doesn't care if he's

04:02 embarrassed or whatever, like it could could have changed outcome for sure. And I think that's what

04:06 I've learned. You know, just backing off is important and doesn't matter if you look dumb

04:12 or you're not comfortable, like just do it. And yeah, it's just it's just so unexpected because

04:18 he he played so good and I have so much respect for him and just watching one of the best players

04:24 in the world do his thing is is pretty sweet. So.

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