McConnell Golf in the Majors
Golfers experience the highs and lows on golf’s biggest stages
Written by Brad King
McConnell Golf, The Magazine: Fall/Winter 2024
Akshay Bhatia
Akshay Bhatia’s journey to the PGA TOUR has been one of early ambition and steady progression. At just 10 years old, he competed in a U.S. Open local qualifier, and by age 12, he was a national finalist in the inaugural Drive, Chip and Putt Championship at Augusta National.
As a teenager, Bhatia declared his goal to be the first player in Masters history to break 60.
In 2019, the 18-year-old son of Indian immigrants turned professional straight out of high school. Bhatia won on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour and gained PGA TOUR Special Temporary Membership with a runner-up finish at the 2023 Puerto Rico Open. His breakthrough came last July when he won the Barracuda Championship in a playoff against Patrick Rodgers. Though this victory did not earn him a spot in the Masters due to its scheduling conflict with the Open Championship, it granted him full PGA TOUR membership through 2025.
In his second full PGA TOUR season, Bhatia took an unprecedented step: he wrote down his goals for the year. While he kept the list private, the Raleigh native and former McConnell Golf Junior Scholarship recipient achieved several of his goals during a memorable 2024 campaign.
The season started slowly with four missed cuts in five tournaments. However, by early April—after a couple of top-20 finishes—Bhatia was faced with a 6-foot putt for victory at the Valero Open in San Antonio, Texas. Making that putt allowed him to top Denny McCarthy in a playoff and secure the final 2024 Masters invitation. “One of my goals was to play all four majors,” he said. “Going into Valero, we knew it was a long shot, but it worked out.”
At Augusta National, Bhatia relished the opportunity to play with Phil Mickelson early in the week, eagerly absorbing all the advice the three-time Masters champion shared. “I’ve tried to apply some shots that he’s kind of recommended,” said Bhatia. “There’s still a lot for me to learn.”
Bhatia made the cut at Augusta and remained steady through the weekend, finishing top 35 with a final score of 294 (72-75-74-73). In May, he competed in the PGA Championship, where he missed the cut at 1 over. During the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, Bhatia was a strong contender, finishing tied for 16th at 3 over. In July, he narrowly missed the cut at the British Open with rounds of 76 and 73.
“Every week was a different story,” Bhatia said of his 2024 major championship experience. “Obviously, the Masters was such a high. I mean, getting there on property, [the] standing ovations, all the players on both sides of the spectrum were so supportive of me. It was just a really cool experience.”
Of the PGA Championship, he said, “Going back to Valhalla for the PGA Championship, where I won the Junior PGA, was really cool. Obviously, I didn’t play great there.”
Heading from the PGA Championship to the U.S. Open in Pinehurst was particularly meaningful for him. “I played a handful of tournaments there [North Carolina] and having all the family and friends, just the fans, it was really, really cool,” he said. “To kind of be in contention there [U.S. Open] for a good period of time was something that I [loved].”
“A goal next year is definitely going to be in contention more and more in those major championships. It’s something that I dreamed about for such a long time,” said Bhatia. “For it to happen so fast was pretty cool.”
Bhatia was one of five PGA TOUR players with a McConnell Golf connection who competed in a major tournament this year.
Alongside Bhatia, former McConnell Golf Junior Scholarship recipients Grayson Murray (Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open qualifier) and Carter Jenkins (U.S. Open) made major appearances. Additionally, McConnell Golf members Lucas Glover (Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, The Open) and Chesson Hadley (U.S. Open) joined them in the lineup.
Bhatia has already experienced the unpredictable nature of professional golf. At the Rocket Mortgage Classic in late June, he arrived at the 18th hole with the lead and had a 32-foot putt with a chance to win, but he left it 4 feet short and then missed the putt that would have forced a playoff. It was his first three-putt of the week and only his second bogey of the entire tournament.
“Golf is a tough sport, probably one of the toughest in the world.” - Akshay Bhatia
Had Bhatia won—six months before his 23rd birthday—he would have joined Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Tom Kim as the only golfers in the last 40 years to win three times before age 23.
“Golf is a tough sport, probably one of the toughest in the world,” Bhatia said. “You can always go through ebbs and flows. I think that’s shown in my career, for sure. But it’s always gotten a little better every year.”
Another goal he recorded at the start of the year—competing in the season-ending TOUR Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Club—is well within Bhatia’s reach as of publication. He also added a goal midway through the season to represent the United States at the Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club.
“Obviously, winning out here is very hard, and the way I did it, being the last person to go to the Masters, it was all just such a fairy tale,” Bhatia said. “I’ve had a lot of missed cuts, and I’ve had a lot of made cuts, top-15s and a couple chances to win here and there. All in all, it’s been a pretty good first full season.”
Lucas Glover
For Musgrove Mill Golf Club member and 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, replicating his 2023 proved nearly impossible. Last year, Glover captured the regular season-ending Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs at No. 49. Then, he won the following week to start the postseason and moved all the way up to No. 4, becoming a lock for the TOUR Championship, with a reasonable shot at the $18 million purse and FedEx Cup title.
But the 44-year-old had nothing left in the tank. After playing six out of seven weeks to get into the postseason and coming off back-to-back wins in the summer heat, it was all he could do to cross the finish line at East Lake. Nevertheless, the back-to-back victories reignited Glover’s career, earning him a TOUR exemption for three more years.
Despite missing seven cuts in 21 starts in ’24, Glover managed a top 20 at the Masters and a top 43 at the PGA Championship before a pair of missed cuts at the two Open Championships. The former Clemson University All-American called 2024 a season in which he got nothing out of his rounds. “I just haven’t put much together this year,” he said. “I hit it good for a week, not making anything, and then the next week it would seem to be the opposite.”
Carter Jenkins
Former McConnell Golf Junior Scholarship recipient Carter Jenkins and Wakefield member Chesson Hadley both qualified for the 2024 U.S. Open at Duke University Golf Club during “golf’s longest day.” Jenkins was 67th on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, fighting for his PGA TOUR card, when he teed it up at Pinehurst No. 2. The 28-year-old former All-ACC performer from the University of North Carolina qualified by emerging from a seven-person playoff after two holes.
“I told a couple of guys I didn’t really care whether I made it or not, to be honest with you,” Jenkins said. “I was just out there playing. It’s one of those things. It just happened to work out. I never really gave it any thought about, ‘Ooh, I’d like to make this one because it’s in Pinehurst.’ I just honestly didn’t think about it.”
Chesson Hadley
Hadley qualified for the U.S. Open at Duke without a playoff. With his wife, Amanda, caddying for him, Hadley fired a 4-under-par and was one of seven players to advance to Pinehurst No. 2. He (rounds of 75 and 73) and Jenkins (73, 78) both missed the U.S. Open cut.
It was Hadley’s third U.S. Open appearance. His best finish was a tie for ninth in 2019 at Pebble Beach Golf Links. A natural left-hander who plays golf right-handed, Hadley was named the 2014 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year after he won the Puerto Rico Open. A winner of four Korn Ferry Tour events, Hadley was a three-time All-America selection at Georgia Tech.
It’s a day-to-day physical and mental grind facing all golfers as they overcome hurdles and pressures while attempting to make their mark in the game. Nevertheless, five McConnell Golf members and junior scholars managed to make their mark at the highest level of the game in 2024.
Simon Myers’ Drive, Chip, and Putt Triumph
In April, 12-year-old Simon Myers became just the second McConnell Golf member to compete in the Drive, Chip and Putt national finals at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, the annual site of the Masters Tournament.
Simon—whose father played golf at Mississippi State—is the middle of three boys and has been playing golf since he could walk. He regularly competes in Tarheel Junior Golf Tour events, PGA Junior League, and the U.S. Kids North Carolina State Championship. He’s participated in the U.S. Kids World Championships since he was 6 years old.
The Myers Family
Drive, Chip and Putt is a free, nationwide youth golf development program conducted in partnership with the USGA, the Masters, and the PGA of America. It is open to boys and girls ages 7-15, divided into four age categories. The competition tests essential golf skills—driving, chipping, and putting—with local qualifying rounds beginning in May, held at hundreds of sites across the country throughout the summer. The top three scorers at each venue, in both boys’ and girls’ divisions across the four age categories, advanced to subregional qualifiers in July and August.
The top two juniors in each age/gender division then competed at the regional level in September and October. Regional qualifiers were held at 10 courses nationwide, including multiple U.S. Open and PGA Championship venues. The 10th annual Drive, Chip and Putt finals were broadcast live before the start of the 88th Masters.
Simon, the son of Linda and Tim Myers, members of Treyburn Country Club in Durham, N.C., won North Carolina pre-qualifier events at Mill Creek Golf Course and Duke University Golf Course, before traveling to Nashville, Tenn., for the regional qualifier.
At The Golf Club of Tennessee, located just outside Nashville, Simon clinched the Boys 10-11 title with 152 points, securing a 23-point victory over the next-closest competitor. Simon sported an Augusta National polo shirt during his regional win, a gift from his friend and fellow golfer, Simon Hall. At this year’s subregional qualifier, Hall placed third and gifted the shirt to Simon as a good luck charm.
Simon, a sixth-grader this year, was one of 80 junior golfers representing 31 U.S. states, one Canadian province, and Australia to earn an invitation to compete at Augusta National.
Q&A: Simon Myers reflects on his Augusta experience
MCCONNELL GOLF: Now that you’ve had a few months to reflect, how special was it to compete in the Drive, Chip and Putt event at Augusta National just days before the Masters?
MYERS: It was really awesome to win my qualifiers and make it all the way to Augusta. It seemed like such a long shot when it all started. It was an experience I will never forget.
MCCONNELL GOLF: What were some of your favorite memories of that day?
MYERS: My favorite part of it all was to walk around and see both Augusta National and get close up with the pros. I loved the Drive, Chip and Putt competition as well and I felt really proud to be there.
MCCONNELL GOLF: What were some of the highlights of the qualifying process?
MYERS: To get to Augusta, I won my local, subregional, and regional qualifiers, and that was all very exciting. My favorite memory was during the final regional qualifier in Tennessee. I hit three amazing chips, including holing one of them and getting the other two really close. That put me way ahead in the competition.
MCCONNELL GOLF: How has your year been? Have you played a lot of tournament golf or had any standout moments?
MYERS: My summer was good, and I have been playing a lot of tournament golf. Some highlights include two tournament wins on the Tarheel Junior Golf Tour and a personal best two-day tournament score of -6 (70/68). I am also doing Drive, Chip and Putt again and I have made it past my local and subregional qualifiers. We are going back to the regional in Tennessee again, which is the last step before the finals in Augusta.
MCCONNNELL GOLF: What’s your ultimate dream as you develop your golf skills?
MYERS: My goal is to become a PGA TOUR player!