Akshay Bhatia, armed with his long putter, rolled in 71 feet worth of putts on Friday at Spyglass Hill and 59 feet worth of putts on Thursday at Pebble Beach.
Then he logged on to Instagram to make a “2 inches” comment.
In question was whether Bhatia had violated the rules while grabbing a share of the lead at the midway point of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. An Instagram user on Friday, on top of a picture of Bhatia putting with his long putter, wrote this comment:
“Is Akshay anchoring here?
“I am not accusing. But there is a point to the question.
“The USGA and R&A screwed up royally when they banned anchoring but didn’t ban putter length.
“Because touching clothing is legal, it’s impossible to detect now.”
The comment involves rule 10.1b, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2016. That rule reads this way:
“In making a stroke, the player must not anchor the club, either: Directly, by holding the club or a gripping hand against any part of the body (except that the player may hold the club or a gripping hand against a hand or forearm); or Indirectly, through use of an ‘anchor point,’ by holding a forearm against any part of the body to use a gripping hand as a stable point around which the other hand may swing the club.
“If the player’s club, gripping hand or forearm merely touches their body or clothing during the stroke, without being held against the body, there is no breach of this Rule.
“For the purposes of this Rule, ‘forearm’ means the part of the arm below the elbow joint and includes the wrist.”
Bhatia said he was putting legally.
About an hour after @waystogolf posted the picture and comment, Bhatia responded, writing:
“Not anchoring. Literally 2 inches short of my chest haha.”
About a half-day later, Bhatia then started his third round. This year, Bhatia has played three other events, missing the cut in the first two before tying for third last week at the WM Phoenix Open.
“Yeah, I mean, I think everyone’s always a little anxious — maybe not Scottie [Scheffler] — to start the year,” Bhatia said of his turnaround from his first two tournaments. “So yeah, just AmEx are on golf courses I love, didn’t play great. Torrey Pines, golf course I love, didn’t drive it great. And then I just really, I don’t know, I’m the same person, but just found some stuff in my golf swing, which was really nice. Found some stuff in my putting, which was really nice.
“Joe [caddie Joe Greiner] and I are still really fresh, which is really hard for me to think about sometimes because we have such a good kind of bond, I guess. So we’re still getting to know each other, he’s still getting to know my game, but we’re starting to kind of mesh together where when we walk up to a shot, we’re kind of on the same page all the time.”
