PGA Tour star Akshay Bhatia involved in costly rules blunder at Hero Indian Open

A costly rules blunder has left recent PGA Tour winner Akshay Bhatia in a battle to make the cut at the Hero Indian Open. 

The 26-year-old American and current world number 22 arrived at DLF Golf & Country Club in New Delhi as one of the pre-tournament favourites. 

But he is staring down the barrel of exiting the $2.5m tournament after 36 holes having signed for an opening five over 77. 

Bhatia, who captured the biggest professional victory of his career at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, began the tournament on the back nine. 

He endured a brutal start by hitting his opening tee shot out of bounds and, after five holes, his card included two bogeys, one double bogey and a birdie. 

Then he tumbled down the leaderboard even further on the 15th hole when he accidentally hit the wrong ball with his second shot. 

According to a report by bunkered, Bhatia realised the mistake immediately and promptly found his own ball. 

He notified a tournament official straight away and the American was hit with the standard two-shot penalty. 

Bhatia managed back-to-back pars on the 16th and 17th but dropped two more shots on the 18th. 

He bounced back, making three birdies and six pars on the way in to leave him on five-over overall. 

Speaking to the official DP World Tour team after his round concluded, Bhatia said it was a "tough day". 

"Glad I didn't shoot 80," Bhatia said. "Yeah, tough day. Hit the wrong ball, which was very unfortunate.

"Shooting three under on my backside is great, and, look, this golf course is hard, so if I can just try and get it back to even par, I think it'll be, you know, a nice comeback for me. 

"I'll never give up, and that’s kind of the goal."

DLF Golf & Country Club is renowned for its difficulty. Only 31 players in the field were under par before play was suspended on day one. 

Bhatia, who was forced to miss the TGL finals this week as Tiger Woods returned to the sport, added: "Yeah, I mean, definitely just gotta get more comfortable with the golf course. 

"It's a tough golf course. I mean, I hit it OB on the first hole.

"So it's just like, you can hit shots that are five, 10 yards off your line and just be really in a tough position.

"But all in all, I'm just gonna try and rest and just try and kind of continue the momentum I had on the back nine today.

"It's such a blessing (to be in Delhi). Yeah, I'm just so, so blessed to be here, and I look forward to spending a couple more days here, for sure."

Germany's Freddy Schott is the early pacesetter at the Hero Indian Open on six under. 

Schott leads former LIV Golf recruit and the defending champion, Eugenio Chacarra, by one stroke. 

LIV Golf recruits David Puig and Elvis Smylie are also playing this week. Both players need to win to qualify for the 2026 Masters Tournament. 

Puig shot the same score as Bhatia whilst Smylie looks destined to miss the cut after opening with a 79.