Akshay Bhatia, who is No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is making his professional debut this week at the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship.
Bhatia made the news official with an Instagram post Monday morning. The 17-year-old from Wake Forest, North Carolina, who decided to skip college, is coming off the Walker Cup in which the United States beat GB&I. It was the first American team to win on foreign soil since 2007.
Bhatia was the youngest player on the U.S. team.
“It’s definitely something we all dreamed about,” said Bhatia, who won two points out of three at Royal Liverpool. “The expectation level was huge for us. I can’t put into words what it means to us and our team and the United States of America.”
Brandon Wu, Steven Fisk, Alex Smalley and Isaiah Salinda joined Bhatia in deciding to turn professional after the Walker Cup.
Bhatia has had a dominant run through junior golf. Last year he defended his title at the Junior PGA Championship. He also won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and the AJGA’s Polo Golf Junior Classic.
