PGA Tour pro Michael Kim has rushed to the defence of Akshay Bhatia after a number of golf fans accused the star of anchoring his putter during his victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Bhatia captured his third PGA Tour title with a dramatic playoff victory over Daniel Berger at Bay Hill on Sunday night.
The 24-year-old sealed the win with a par on the first extra hole — the par-4 18th — after Berger three-putted for bogey from outside 60 feet.
With the victory, Bhatia becomes just the eighth player in PGA Tour history to win his first three PGA Tour titles in playoffs.
The left-handed American also banked the $4m first prize from the $20m Signature Event and vaulted to second in the season-long FedEx Cup standings behind Collin Morikawa ahead of this week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
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Bhatia now moves from 39th to a career-best 19th in the world rankings.
Bhatia topped the charts for putting at Bay Hill
However, much of the online conversation during the closing stages of Bhatia’s win centred on his putting stroke rather than his performance.
Bhatia not only topped the charts on the leaderboard, but he also led the field in strokes-gained putting (13.867) across all four rounds at Bay Hill.
As Bhatia marched towards victory, a large number of golf fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to question whether he was anchoring his broom-handle putter against his chest — something banned in professional golf.
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The anchoring ban came into force on 1 January 2016 when the USGA and R&A implemented Rule 14-1b, prohibiting players from anchoring a club against their body or using an anchor point during the stroke.
While long putters remain legal, they cannot be braced against the body or stabilised by creating a fixed point with the forearm or torso.
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Despite the accusations, largely as a result of the below photograph on social media, Bhatia has strongly denied any wrongdoing with his putting stroke.
PGA Tour fans have questioned Bhatia’s stroke
Several images circulated widely on social media during the final round, including one photograph showing a dent in Bhatia’s shirt around the area of his top hand on the putter.
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Some fans interpreted the image as evidence the club might be touching his body.
Bhatia, however, insists his stroke remains within the rules.
“Not anchoring. Literally 2 inches short of my chest haha,” Bhatia replied to a social media post just last month.
Bhatia has come under fire on social media
Bhatia consistenly denies any wrongdoing
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In the aftermath of his Bay Hill victory, one-time PGA Tour winner Michael Kim, widely known for his active presence on X, has rushed to Bhatia’s defence.
Kim admitted he finds the accusations amusing to say the least.
“It’s funny to me that Akshay anchoring is a thing,” Kim posted on X.
“In person, it’s not that close. This is not a concern amongst the players.”
One fan responded to Kim by pointing out how widely a single screenshot had been shared online.
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“This is quite helpful considering I’ve seen the same screenshot posted 82x in 20 hours.”
Kim replied: “That’s the algorithm going crazy.”
Kim shuts down any foul play with Bhatia’s stroke
For now, the matter appears settled among those closest to the action.
Bhatia has denied anchoring, and fellow PGA Tour professionals such as Kim have publicly backed him, suggesting the controversy is largely being fuelled by social media speculation rather than concerns within the professional game.
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What do you make of Bhatia’s putting stroke? What do you make of players using long putters in general? Share your thoughts below or come and join the debate on our social media channels @GolfMagic.
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