Akshay Bhatia’s Quest to Find “Peace” on the Course is Starting to Pay Dividends

This silly game we all love can mess with your head. And for the guys on TOUR, it’s easy to be consumed by world ranking, statistics, and all the other numbers that can influence them about how they feel about their game.

For Akshay Bhatia, he was drowning in all that information.

“I haven't done a great job,” Bhatia said after signing for an 8-under 62 during the opening round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday. “I've been looking at a lot of numbers that I don't need to look at, obviously FedExCup, world ranking, and I'm still doing it, and I still catch myself doing it.”

FedEx St. Jude: How to Watch, Tee Times

But at the 3M Open, he decided to change his mindset. He decided to find a little more “peace” on the golf course.

“I think this game can consume your life, your happiness, and so I'm just trying to figure out ways to change that because I feel like I don't really want to live my life based off of an unstable game,” he said. “That's going to drive me nuts. This whole year it has, so I'm just trying to be just a little more at ease with whatever I shoot.”

And that switch has quickly paid dividends.

He had a great chance to win in Minnesota before a tough final stroll around TPC Twin Cities—a final-round 75 sent him tumbling down into a tie for 25th—and on Day 1 in Memphis, he used seven birdies and an eagle to grab the early lead at 8-under.

“I felt like at 3M I did a nice job for three days, and then Sunday was—I sat in my hotel room furious. It's hard because I want to perform the way I know I can, and this year again hasn't been the easiest,” he said. “But I'm just trying to enjoy what I have and be grateful for what I get to do for a living.”

And now, after another nice start, he has an opportunity to try to right the wrong of that Sunday in Minnesota. If his course history tells us anything—he tied for 12th here a year ago—he should be part of the conversation in three day’s time.