Akshay Bhatia's struggle to find results: the Jailbird putter experiment

DETROIT -- The Odyssey Jailbird putter is on quite the hot streak. Popularized by Rickie Fowler and then picked up by Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley, the putter has been in the bag for the last two winners on the PGA TOUR. Golf, like any sport, is a copy-cat league, so it should come as no surprise Odyssey received interest from a number of TOUR players looking to try it out.

One of those was Akshay Bhatia, who first took notice of it during a practice round with Fowler earlier this year. He got his hands on one during the Charles Schwab Challenge. This week, though, was the first time he tried in competition.

“It’s obviously been working for a lot of guys so how do you not try it?” Bhatia told PGATOUR.com Thursday.

So how did things go for the putter's first round of competition? Not as he hoped. Bhatia shot 1-over 73 in the first round and ranked 126th in the field in putting.

“I felt unsure with everything,” the 21-year-old said after the round, enough so that he was back on the practice putting green with his old putter Thursday afternoon. By the time he teed off Friday, the old putter was back in the bag.

It’s about how things have gone as of late for Bhatia, who admitted the last few months have been “really hard” as he’s eagerly tried to lift his level of play but struggled to find results. Currently on Special Temporary Membership, he finished fourth at the Mexico Open at Vidanta in late April but has not finished inside the top 40 since. This week at the Rocket Mortgage was the latest example as Bhatia, 2-under, missed the cut by two strokes.

While happy with his ball striking and driving, the putting has been “really frustrating.” He’s tried not to let the uneasiness with the flatstick seep into any parts of his game, but it’s been difficult.

“I’ve looked at it two ways, like realizing should I be somewhere else on the Korn Ferry Tour and not here?” said Bhatia, who has full status on the Korn Ferry Tour this season but has elected not to use it much, playing only four KFT events to 14 events on TOUR. “I am trying to change my perspective because after Colonial and Memorial and RBC (Canadian Open) I felt like being on the PGA TOUR is the worst thing in the world but it’s really not. If I play good golf it takes care of itself.”

Through sponsor’s exemptions, Bhatia was able to secure Special Temporary Membership earlier this season. He would rank 87th in the FedExCup if he were a member. He needs to earn more than the 125th finisher at the end of the FedExCup Fall to earn his card for next year, meaning he likely needs at least one or two more solid finishes to clinch a spot on TOUR next season.

The search for good golf hasn’t come from a lack of trying. Bhatia said he’s moved away from putting a line on his ball and lining every putt. He tried AimPoint to help with his green reading but has since moved away from that, too. He hoped the switch to the Jailbird would help him become less reliant on an armlock grip and push him towards a more conventional approach. Now he’s back to his old putter.

“I’m definitely searching for who I was as a junior. I felt like I was one of the best putters in junior golf, amateur golf. I’m trying to just figure out,” Bhatia said.

Bhatia was one of the best juniors, period. He finished runner-up at the 2018 Junior Amateur, won two silver medals at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games and played in a Junior Presidents Cup, Junior Ryder Cup and a Walker Cup. Deciding to turn pro right after high school, Bhatia took his chances on the mini tours where he won twice on the Swing Thought Tour then won The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour last January. He fell short of earning his PGA TOUR card through the Korn Ferry Tour regular season standings and failed to make it out of Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Instead pursuing Special Temporary Membership, which he earned after a runner-up finish at the 2023 Puerto Rico Open.

In short, Bhatia is used to success – and he would characterize the last few months as anything but. His sole ambition is to get back to that success, this time on the PGA TOUR.

“My goal is to win out here, multiple times,” he said. “Maybe it happens this year, maybe it doesn’t. Putting myself in contention is what I care about… because that’s where it’s fun.”