Akshay Bhatia Fires Opening Round 63, Leads By 3 Shots at 2024 Valero Texas Open

The 2024 Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio kicked off with a bang on Thursday, as Justin Lower raced out to six-under during the morning wave with a bogey-free round of six-under 66. With the notorious Texas wind gusts starting to pick up as the afternoon group hit the course, the thought of another player topping Lower's first-day score felt farfetched.

But then 22-year-old YouTube sensation Akshay Bhatia hit the first tee box and went on an absurd run during the grueling opening nine holes.

Bhatia carded birdies at the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 9th holes on the front nine to race out to four-under, but his heater didn't stop there. The Wake Forest, North Carolina resident made five more birdies during his final seven holes of the opening round, finishing three shots better than Lower despite playing in the more difficult player wave.

"Yeah, just played solid. I think also experience out here," Bhatia said of his performance. "I played — this is my third time here. Not many golf courses on the Tour have been my third time, so I think understanding the golf course a lot more... I just played solid, I got a couple [of] really good breaks. Yeah, it was just a good day."

Currently without an invitation to next week's Masters at Augusta National, Bhatia needs to pick up a victory in San Antonio to get into the field for the most prestigious tournament in golf. But the young ball striker knows he can't be focused on that with three days remaining at the Valero, showing his maturity for just having turned 22 years old in January.

"Doesn't matter to me. I'm excited to go and sleep, it's been a long day. It's been very hot. I'm just trying to do the things that my mental coach and I have been talking about and I'm not trying to win the golf tournament today, but it's just nice having a nice day today."

Bhatia credits much of his recent success during his first full-time season on the PGA Tour to working on his mental game with a psychologist. He's learned to not get too down on himself during his rounds and to stay calm and positive.

"Just a lot of mentality stuff. It's been a big thing, it's been a big change for me and I think the last couple weeks is kind of when I just started working with Ryan, my psychologist, and that's where it's really paid off. Just changing the way I look into the days and my goals for the day."