PGA Tour pro Michael Kim has rushed to the defense of Akshay Bhatia after a number of golf fans accused the star of anchoring his putter during his victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Bhatia captured his third PGA Tour title with a dramatic playoff victory over Daniel Berger at Bay Hill on Sunday night.
The 24-year-old sealed the win with a par on the first extra hole — the par-4 18th — after Berger three-putted for bogey from outside 60 feet.
With the victory, Bhatia becomes just the eighth player in PGA Tour history to win his first three PGA Tour titles in playoffs.
The left-handed American also banked the $4m first prize from the $20m Signature Event and vaulted to second in the season-long FedEx Cup standings behind Collin Morikawa ahead of this week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
Bhatia now moves from 39th to a career-best 19th in the world rankings.
However, much of the online conversation during the closing stages of Bhatia’s win centered on his putting stroke rather than his performance.
Bhatia not only topped the charts on the leaderboard, but he also led the field in strokes-gained putting (13.867) across all four rounds at Bay Hill.
As Bhatia marched towards victory, a large number of golf fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to question whether he was anchoring his broom-handle putter against his chest — something banned in professional golf.
Bhatia is anchoring and no one cares because he’s a very likable guy. The rule sucks, and he’s taking advantage of a loophole (saying he’s just touching his shirt, not his chest). The putter should be the shortest club in the bag. https://t.co/Ybqd0AtR0s pic.twitter.com/5W9jpLvlGO
— Sam Humphreys (@SamHumphreys34) March 8, 2026
The anchoring ban came into force on 1 January 2016 when the USGA and R&A implemented Rule 14-1b, prohibiting players from anchoring a club against their body or using an anchor point during the stroke.
While long putters remain legal, they cannot be braced against the body or stabilized by creating a fixed point with the forearm or torso.
⚓️⛳️🏌️ #DISCUSSION — In your opinion, would you consider this anchoring?
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) February 14, 2026
Despite the accusations, largely as a result of the below photograph on social media, Bhatia has strongly denied any wrongdoing with his putting stroke.
Several images circulated widely on social media during the final round, including one photograph showing a dent in Bhatia’s shirt around the area of his top hand on the putter.
Some fans interpreted the image as evidence the club might be touching his body.
Bhatia, however, insists his stroke remains within the rules.
“Not anchoring. Literally 2 inches short of my chest haha,” Bhatia replied to a social media post just last month.
In the aftermath of his Bay Hill victory, one-time PGA Tour winner Michael Kim, widely known for his active presence on X, has rushed to Bhatia’s defense.
Kim admitted he finds the accusations amusing to say the least.
“It’s funny to me that Akshay anchoring is a thing,” Kim posted on X.
“In person, it’s not that close. This is not a concern amongst the players.”
One fan responded to Kim by pointing out how widely a single screenshot had been shared online.
“This is quite helpful considering I’ve seen the same screenshot posted 82x in 20 hours.”
Kim replied: “That’s the algorithm going crazy.”
For now, the matter appears settled among those closest to the action.
Bhatia has denied anchoring, and fellow PGA Tour professionals such as Kim have publicly backed him, suggesting the controversy is largely being fueled by social media speculation rather than concerns within the professional game.
What do you make of Bhatia’s putting stroke? What do you make of players using long putters in general? Share your thoughts below.
Article originally appeared on: Golfmagic.com
The only person who can answer this question is Bernhard Langer.
Or Adam Scott.
If a batter in baseball has his jersey hit by a pitched ball he is deemed hit by pitch and awarded first base. I know it is a different sport. Easy way to fix this is nothing can be touching the club but your hands AND nothing could be touching your hands. To me it is anchoring.
I have been saying for years that the long putter should be band. They said the official with the group should be watching but he or she can never have clear vision on every putt. I like Bahita but he did anchor the putt on a few must make putts on Saturday and Sunday as does Adam Scott.. maybe they do not do it deliberately but they do it. Will Zalatorishad back surgery and uses the long putter like the rule say’s away from his body. That is how the officals should make Scott and Bahita use it. They would quickly go back to the legal shorter putters!
I don’t believe he is anchoring, nor Langer or Scott. But I do believe the long putter, along with arm lock putters, should be banned. That just doesn’t look like a golf stroke. They banned Sam Snead’s croquet style putting because they didn’t deem it a proper golf stroke. How is this any different?
It sure seems like it, in the one photo and the brief video clip. You can see his hand indent the hanging shirt.