PGA Tour
Akshay Bhatia is 'winning' this unusual bet with his caddie at Travelers
Akshay Bhatia jogs up a hill by the 18th hole during the second round of the Travelers Championship.
James Gilbert
By 1 p.m. local time on Friday, the thermometer in Cromwell, Conn., where the Travelers Championship is being played this week, had reached 95 degrees. But with the humidity at 55 percent, the “feels like” effect on phone apps read an even 100 degrees. Summer has truly arrived in the Northeast.
It calls for maximum hydration for anybody venturing outdoors, and for those on hand at TPC River Highlands, simply standing could produce a heavy sweat. For the players and caddies who are walking close to five miles in their job, they’re gulping water like it’s, well … water.
Word got out this week that Akshay Bhatia even has a bet with his caddie, John Limanti, on who is going to consume more water this week. Now, as we know, the 22-year-old Bhatia stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 130 pounds, so it would seem that he has a lot of room in that body to store liquids (a completely unscientific observation, of course).
And, thus far, the boss is “winning.”
“I'm probably drinking seven, eight bottles of water a day, and then mix that with electrolytes hydration stuff, so it's a fun battle, it's good to keep us on our toes about that,” Bhatia said.
It certainly begs the question: Are they vying for "most bathroom breaks" too?
Bhatia doesn’t appear in danger of seeing his golf game go faint. He backed up an opening six-under 64 with a 65 on Friday and, with play suspended by lightning in the afternoon, he was tied for second, two shots behind sole leader Tom Kim.
It’s another impressive performance for a guy who is playing for a seventh consecutive week. Prior to the Travelers, Bhatia already had logged 18 starts in 2024 and notched his second PGA Tour win in April at the Valero Texas Open.
He is, however, seeking a first top-10 start since that victory. Indeed, though Bhatia has nine top-25 results, he doesn’t have another top-10. So there’s obviously room for improvement.
“I just want to keep building on good golf and kind of learning as I go. I feel like I've been working really hard on my technique especially this week, and I feel like my coach and I have found a feel that works, so we're just kind of trying to build on that and focus on that as much as I can.”