Rory McIlroy beat JJ Spaun in a three-hole playoff to win the PLAYERS Championship on Monday. They won by two shots over a lot of other players in the final round, including Akshay Bhatia, a rising star on the PGA Tour.

Bhatia pulled out of this week’s Valspar Championship, which is set for March 20–23, the day after finishing T3 at the Players and making more than $1 million.

The 23-year-old golfer Bhatia pulled out of the $8.7 million event after Rory McIlroy’s amazing showing at TPC Sawgrass. The reason Bhatia quit has not been made public, which is a shame.

But this isn’t the first time Bhatia has dropped out. In February, he also dropped out of the Farmers Insurance Open 2025. But that was after he played his first round.

Bhatia has already played well enough to get into Augusta National. So, one has to wonder if his choice was affected by being tired.

If Bhatia had played this week, he would have played in eight of the ten events that led up to the Masters.

He also moved up to 21st in the Official World Golf Rankings and 16th in the FedEx Cup standings after his performance at The PLAYERS.

To be honest, doesn’t need to take part nearly as much anymore.

When he played at the Valspar last year, he got a score of 4 under par, which was 8 strokes behind the winner, Peter Malnati. It’s clear that the 23-year-old has gotten a lot better since then.

Alejandro Tosti, who hit a hole-in-one on the 17th hole and became a big star at the TPC Sawgrass, will take over for the pro.

The PGA Tour pro had just signed a $1 million cheque at the Players Championship on Sunday. In the final round of the ‘fifth major’, he had four birdies and three bogeys.

To protect the title he won last year, he is likely to be in San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open. That path will take you to Augusta National.

What do you think? Where did Akshay Bhatia go? Leave a comment below and let us know!