This week, Akshay Bhatia returns to the course that changed his life and launched the best season of his six-year professional career.
With a wire-to-wire win at last year's Valero Texas Open, the California native earned the very last spot in the field at The Masters and performed admirably in his first-ever trip to Augusta National, tying for 35th.
And while Bhatia has yet to visit the winner's circle since his victory at TPC San Antonio, the overall success has continued.
Since taking his second PGA Tour title—his first came at the 2023 Barracuda Championship—the 23-year-old has recorded 13 top-25 finishes, including seven top-10s, three of which have come in his last four starts.
While Bhatia doesn't need a win this week to punch his ticket to Augusta, he'll naturally still be looking to defend his title. But already knowing he's in the Masters field, he's also looking to fine-tune his game ahead of the season's first major.
Akshay Bhatia has his mind on The Masters but still wants to go back-to-back at the Valero Texas Open
After ninth-place finishes at both The Genesis Invitational and the Mexico Open, Bhatia missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational but bounced back nicely the following week, tying for third at The Players Championship.
He was all set to tee it up at the Valspar but instead opted to withdraw. Despite no reason being given for that withdrawal, it's assumed that he was looking for some much-needed rest. The world No. 23 also chose not to play last week's Texas Children's Houston Open.
Bhatia obviously has to be hoping that rest pays off over the next few weeks.
While wanting to defend his title at the Valero, he's also in search of his first top-10 in a major. Last season was the first time he played all four, and he missed the cut at the PGA Championship and The Open Championship.
In addition to his T35 at The Masters, he earned his best major finish with a T16 at the U.S. Open.
Bhatia recently spoke about his preparation for this week in San Antonio and how it will help him prepare for his second attempt to win a green jacket.
“I feel like it’s just another week. I have my mind really set on Augusta next week, so it’s a great week on this golf course to kind of learn where my game’s at, what kind of shots I need to improve on for next week.
“It’s a great golf course for that, very narrow, very tricky. It’s obviously going to be windy here. I just kind of feel normal. It's kind of a tune-up week, but it's also very cool to kind of go back-to-back. It's got a mix of both."
Bakshay currently ranks seventh on the PGA Tour in birdies per round with 4.73, and he'll certainly need plenty of those over the next two weeks.