“My girlfriend and me are 20 at the time” - Akshay Bhatia shares experience of taking a U-Haul to a Korn Ferry Tour event

Akshay Bhatia is currently teeing up the 2023 Valspar Championship. The American professional golfer earned a Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour after finishing runner-up at the Puerto Rico Open last week. It’s safe to say that he is having the time of his life.

The 21-year-old has finally broken into the PGA Tour from the Korn Ferry Tour. With Bhatia aiming to stay on the American circuit with a strong outing at the ongoing event, this comes as the perfect time to look back on an interesting episode from his Korn Ferry Tour days. The golfer recently appeared on an episode of Subpar, where he recalled the experience of renting a U-Haul to the 2022 Wichita Open on the Korn Ferry Tour.

The golfer, who has made more than $550,000 this season alone, opened up about choosing against a rental car to save money while traveling for the Wichita Open. Reciting the incident, Bhatia said that both he and his girlfriend were 20 at the time and didn’t want to spend more on travel.

Sharing the experience of taking a U-Haul to the Korn Ferry Tour event, Akshay Bhatia said:

“We were in Wichita, Kansas. And I ended up changing my flight to a day later, and Avis kind of waives the underage fee, because at that time I was 20. So I get to the counter, and they’re like, 'Yeah, we can’t give you a car, you need to be 21. And my girlfriend and me are 20 at the time.'”

The new PGA Tour player said that he phoned his agent, who arranged a rental with a different company, which would cost him over $1,000 to rent the car for the week. Instead, Bhatia listened to his girlfriend’s suggestion to get a U-Haul for around $20 a day.

Akshay Bhatia said:

“I was literally driving five minutes from the golf course to our host house. I was like, I’m not gonna do that… So we call them, and they’re like, we don’t have any of the F-150s, but we have a U-Haul truck,” Bhatia said.

He secured the rental by saying he was moving.

"So we ended up having that for a couple days, then luckily I got a Lexus for the week, which was super amazing. It makes it easier now that I’m 21 so I guess I don’t have to deal with it.”

Bhatia further added that his arrival at the venue in a truck accounted for an amusing moment for his caddie, who thought it was just “hilarious.”

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Akshay Bhatia looks to stay in the PGA Tour

Akshay Bhatia had his career-best finish on the PGA Tour last week at the Puerto Rico Open. Having won his temporary membership on the American circuit, it’s safe to say that the 21-year-old will be looking to stay on it by making enough FedEx Cup points.

It’ll be interesting to see if Akshay follows players like Jordan Spieth who got a crack at the PGA Tour and never left.