Spieth makes feelings clear on Bhatia putting | Golf News

Jordan Spieth has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Akshay Bhatia’s victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Bhatia clinched the win at Bay Hill by outplaying fellow American Daniel Berger in the first sudden-death playoff gap. Despite main from the start, Berger missed a essential seven-foot par putt on the 18th, while Bhatia secured his third PGA Tour title with a regular eagle.

Even with 4 bogeys on Sunday, Bhatia snagged the $4 million prize with another playoff triumph. The 24-year-old joined an exclusive membership as only the eighth participant in PGA Tour historical past to win his first three PGA Tour titles in playoffs, following a personal tragedy he had shared earlier.

However, Bhatia’s victory has been overshadowed by debate over his putting approach. Leading the sector in strokes-gained putting (13.867) across all 4 rounds, Bhatia relied closely on his 50-inch broomstick putter.

Online spectators have raised questions about whether or not Bhatia was anchoring his broom-handle putter against his chest – a methodology that is prohibited in skilled golf. The ban on anchoring was enforced in 2016 when the USGA and R&A launched Rule 14-1b, forbidding gamers from anchoring a membership against their physique or utilizing an anchor level during the stroke.

Long putters are permitted under the principles, but they must not be anchored against the physique or secured to a fixed level on the torso. Following commentary from other PGA Tour gamers, Spieth clarified that anchoring is prohibited – though he instructed Bhatia’s putting approach was possible different.

“In the rules, you can’t anchor,” Spieth told Kay Adams on FanDuel’s ‘Up and Adams!’

“Anchoring is if that putter was touching his sternum up top. You can arm-bar now, but you can’t anchor it against your sternum.”

He added: “There’s a skill to it, and if it were that easy to do and made everyone that much better, everybody would do it. It’s a skill to do. He’s been doing it for a long time.”

Whilst Spieth expressed his personal choice against Bhatia’s completely legal membership alternative, the 32 12 months outdated in the end has no objection to the strategy.

“I would like the putter to be the smallest club in your bag because it’s the shortest club in my bag, and I do believe that it forces more skill. It uses your hands more, which makes you have to be more athletic and deal with stuff that comes up a little bit more.

“But at the same time, I might simply go do that if I believed it was going to make me better. It can be a arduous ability to study; he is just always accomplished it that means.”

Bhatia has firmly rejected any allegations of wrongdoing with his putting technique. He maintains his stroke complies with the regulations; just last month, Bhatia responded via social media to a post regarding his approach.

He posted: “Not anchoring. Literally 2 inches short of my chest haha.”

Bhatia has garnered backing from fellow PGA Tour professionals, including Si Woo Kim, indicating the dispute is primarily being driven by social media conjecture. He will hope for comparable success on the greens at The Players Championship this week.

Elsewhere, Tommy Fleetwood was left flabbergasted after being informed of Tiger Woods Players’ standing.