CROMWELL, Conn. — Akshay Bhatia has already answered one question this season.
He can beat the best players in the world.
Winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, a PGA Tour Signature Event played on one of the toughest courses on the schedule, removed any doubt that the 24-year-old possesses elite talent. But another question has lingered ever since.
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Can he do it consistently?
Akshay Bhatia Friday at the 2026 Travelers Championship.
Friday at the Travelers Championship may have been a step toward answering that quesstion.
Bhatia fired a bogey-free, 8-under 62 at TPC River Highlands, that vaulted him up the leaderboard and match his career low round. As he signed his card, Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player, continued to torch the course and make birdie after birdie, but Bhatia’s 62 ensures he is going to be in the conversation this weekend.
While the victory at Bay Hill proved Bhatia belongs on golf’s biggest stages, the rest of his season has been harder to define. In 15 starts entering this week, he had five missed cuts, including the Masters, PGA Championship and Memorial Tournament. He also posted five top-10 finishes, illustrating the kind of volatility that makes him one of the Tour’s most intriguing players.
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The talent has never been in question, and Friday offered a glimpse of what happens when everything clicks.
Akshay Bhatia Friday at the 2026 Travelers Championship.
Bhatia made eight birdies, didn’t record a bogey and continued one of the quietest trends on the PGA Tour this season. He arrived in Connecticut ranked ninth in Strokes Gained: Putting, and through two rounds he has made more than 250 feet of putts.
He wasn’t surprised.
“I feel like I’ve putted really good the whole year,” Bhatia said. “I kind of showed up this week, did my same stuff, and my speed has been really good this week.”
The difference Friday wasn’t just the putter, it was the driver.
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After losing strokes off the tee Thursday, Bhatia drove the ball beautifully, hitting 13 of 14 fairways. Pair that with a putter that’s already one of the best on Tour and a soft course with no wind, and 62 suddenly looks a lot less like lightning in a bottle.
Compared to last week at Shinnecock Hills, TPC River Highlands also lets him play assertively. After battling Poa annua greens and heavy winds at last week’s U.S. Open, Bhatia said this week has felt liberating.
“Here you can be more aggressive,” he said. “When you are hitting your lines and you are hitting your spots and your speed is good, then the hole gets big.”
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A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
1 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
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A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
3 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
4 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
5 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
6 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
7 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
8 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
9 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
10 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
11 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
12 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
13 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
14 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
15 / 15
A look at the best Travelers Championship merchandise at TPC River Highlands
Hats, shirts, lobsters, flags, head covers and more are all a part of the merch shop at TPC River Highlands for the 2026 Travelers Championship.
(David Dusek)
The most revealing thing Bhatia said while talking to the press on Friday had nothing to do with his score. It was that winning at Bay Hill didn’t make life easier.
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“You think it would be easier,” Bhatia said. “Joe (Greiner, Bhatia’s caddies) and I talk about it so much, about expectations gets so high after you win. So that’s hard to manage.”
Heading into the weekend at the Travelers Championship at 12 under raises expectations. But Bhatia already knows he can win a Signature Event. He already knows he can beat elite fields. The opportunity this weekend isn’t simply to collect another trophy.
It’s to show that performances like Friday’s are becoming the rule instead of the exception.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Akshay Bhatia is back in contention at a signature event after 62 at Travelers
