Did Akshay Bhatia break golf’s anchoring rule at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? What really happened at Bay Hill

Akshay Bhatia was reportedly accused by a fan of anchoring a putt at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational. In a playoff, the American defeated Daniel Berger to win the PGA Tour event.

A golf fan named Lord BLT posted a video of the American golfer, showing a peek of his shot on the playoff hole, and was accused of cheating in the game in the caption.The fan wrote, "He also cheated. But who cares? He won."

Fans accused Akshay Bhatia of cheating at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

However, anchoring in golf is not permitted. Some spectators accused him of cheating in the game; meanwhile, others defended him, a fan wrote. "His thumb is blocking, so it’s not officially anchoring."

In golf, "anchoring of the club" is covered by Rule 14-1b. According to a rule, a player must not “anchor the club” either “directly” or at an “anchor point.” This is what the rule says about “directly” and “anchor point.”"The club is anchored “directly” when the player intentionally holds the club or a gripping hand in contact with any part of his body, except that the player may hold the club or a gripping hand against a hand or forearm.

"An 'anchor point' exists when the player intentionally holds a forearm in contact with any part of his body to establish a gripping hand as a stable point around which the other hand may swing the club."Anchoring in the game can lead to a two-stroke penalty in stroke format, and in match format, the player may lose the hole.

Akshay Bhatia discusses playing a long putter at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Akshay Bhatia was questioned about using a long putter during the press conference following the round.

A reporter asked about the long putter he had been using for some time."I've been doing the same thing for a long time," Bhatia said. "And the funny thing is, this week I felt like Joe, and I do this drill where I throw a Chapstick around and do Aimpoint stuff and try to guess the percentage of slope. And I was really dialed in on Tuesday. But I think I just have more awareness of what it takes out here to make putts. Because I struggled with that last year."My putter slides on these greens, and so I think I figured that out. Figured out a lot of things this week with my coach on just how to attack the golf course. And my speed was great. I had a couple of 3-pointers, but that's going to happen here," he added.Akshay Bhatia opened the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational with a round score of 70. He then added a second round of 66, followed by the last two rounds, which were 68 and 69.After the fourth round, he jumped one spot on the leaderboard and settled into a tie for the lead at 15 under with Berger. He finally secured the title by making a par in the playoff. Akshay Bhatia received $4 million in prize money from his victory, along with 700 FedEx Cup points.