Akshay Bhatia plays boldly, wins 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational

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ORLANDO, Fla. – With a dramatic approach to a tucked flag at 16 to set up eagle and four back-nine birdies, Akshay Bhatia rallied from five back at the turn to shoot 3-under 69 at Bay Hill Club and Lodge and beat Daniel Berger in a playoff at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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Time and again, Bhatia played boldly and fired at flags, making it only appropriate that the winner of Palmer’s tournament is the golfer who went for broke.

Bhatia earned his third career PGA Tour victory and had to play some extra golf on Sunday. He capped off a third-round 4-under 68 with a par-birdie finish in the morning, including a 15-foot birdie on No. 18, but made three bogeys on the front nine of his final round to fall as many as five strokes behind Berger, who was trying to go wire-to-wire for his first win in five years.

Bhatia, enjoyed a career week with his long putter, ranking first in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting, and gaining more than 10 strokes on the greens for the week. Bhatia had one blemish with his putter, missing from inside 3 feet for par at the ninth. When Berger holed a 10-foot birdie putt at the same hole to get to 15 under, Bhatia trailed by five. 

Undaunted, Bhatia chased him down with four straight birdies to start the back nine, including making up for that short miss with a 58-foot bomb at No. 11. After a bogey at 15, he hit one of the shots of the year, nearly holing his approach from 189 yards. He settled for a tap-in eagle and trailed by one. Berger took three putts at 17 and they were tied.

Bhatia nearly won it in regulation but Berger drained a 14-foot par putt after having to lay up. Knotted at 15-under 273, they returned to 18 for the first playoff at Arnie's Place since 1999. Berger missed the fairway again and did his best to get the ball on to the front-left portion of the green, some 107 feet from the hole. He did well to ram it to 7 feet but missed the left-to-right curler for par. Bhatia stroked his second to 27 feet and calmly 2-putted for par.

It's the biggest victory for Bhatia, 24, and a painful playoff defeat for Berger, who led by two strokes with three holes to play.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler finished T-23 after a 73.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Akshay Bhatia wins 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational in playoff

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