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\u201cI had my niece definitely watching over me,\u201d Bhatia said of his niece, Mia, who died in December at 6 years old.<\/p>\n
Bhatia\u2019s luck, however, seemed to have run dry as he carded three bogeys and went out in 2-over 38 later that afternoon \u2013 after a nap, of course. His 2-foot miss for par at the ninth hole was especially frustrating. Bhatia, who\u2019d also only hit fairways at about a 40% clip to that point, had plenty of time to blow off steam on the long walk to the 10th tee, which requires walking past the range, up and across a catwalk, around the practice green and briefly through the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he was so pissed,\u201d said Bhatia\u2019s caddie, Joe Greiner, \u201cand I told him, \u2018Go play the next hole pissed off.\u2019 Then when he made birdie, I said, \u2018Go play this one pissed off too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Bhatia rattled off four straight birdies to begin his final nine. He wedged to 8 feet at the par-4 10th, hooped a nearly 60-footer at the par-4 11th, got up and down and drained another 8-footer at the par-5 12th, and poured in a 10-footer at the par-4 13th, where Berger bogeyed after plugging his approach in a bunker. Suddenly, Berger\u2019s lead was again just a shot.<\/p>\n
Two holes later, Bhatia delivered his boldest shot of the week. Greiner told his boss, \u201cJust try to hit the best 6-iron of your life,\u201d before Bhatia almost jarred his second shot from 191 yards at the par-5 16th. Bhatia rolled in the eagle, then followed with back-to-back approaches to 18 feet to set up tap-in pars, though he flirted a little too much with the water at No. 18, overdrawing a 9-iron that came to rest in the first cut, just feet from the rocks. He missed only one fairway in his last 10 drives.<\/p>\n
Berger missed the 18th fairway on all three occasions on Sunday, playing the finishing hole in a combined 2 over. His bid for a fifth Tour win ended with a missed 7-footer for par in the playoff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough to win. It\u2019s tough to battle,\u201d Berger said. \u201cBut I feel like I did a good job, and a shot here or there was the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n