Shane Lowry has taken a witty dig at Akshay Bhatia who was his third-round playing partner at Augusta National. On Saturday, after completing the day’s play, the Irishman spoke to the media and joked that the winds almost blew away Bhatia. The comment on the 22-year-old kind of indicated that Lowry joked about his lean physique.
Both Akshay Bhatia and Shane Lowry are placed in the middle of the leaderboard. While the American had a 5 over par, the Irishman had a 6 over par score after the 54-hole play at Augusta National. During his post-round interview, Lowry jokingly said as quoted by balls.ie,
“Yeah, the wind is just blowing. I can’t imagine what it was doing to poor Akshay. It was blowing me around the place. He nearly got blown away.” Lowry added by saying, “Yeah, the wind is just – to be honest, the hardest part out there is putting. I find anyway. The hardest part out there is to hole putts.”
Shane Lowry is a 2019 Open Championship winner. His best finish at Augusta National was at T3 in the 2022 Masters. Meanwhile, Akshay Bhatia is playing in his debut Masters. The two-time PGA Tour winner will surely take some learning this week.
Despite Having A Shoulder Injury, Here’s How Akshay Bhatia Earned His First Masters’ Invite
The 22-year-old American golfer’s rise in the professional golf circuit is a bizarre story. Although, once he was considered a junior prodigy, his initial years as a pro golfer were not that great. He eventually became a Korn Ferry Tour winner and followed it with his first PGA Tour victory in 2023. However, that was still not enough to earn his first Masters invite.
But the talented and hardworking Akshay Bhatia did not lose hope and finally earned an invite to the first major of the season. All he had to do was overcome Denny McCarthy to win the Valero Texas Open. And he did exactly the same but with a slight shoulder struggle.
While Bhatia was walking up to the third after playing the first playoff hole, his trainer helped him with his niggling shoulder. As per the 22-year-old, he has had problems with his shoulder. So, after making his putt, he felt that his shoulder “came out of the socket and went back in.” His trainer immediately attended to him, and later on, it felt good while hitting the wedge shot.
The Valero Texas Open win earned Akshay Bhatia his first Masters invite. However, his debut at Augusta National was not quite memorable. In his first three rounds, he has shot 72-75-74, and will hope to finish his campaign with a solid round on Sunday.
