Lefty stays on right track: Akshay Bhatia still bogey-free, shares lead at Rocket

Meanwhile, Davis, 29, is looking for his second PGA Tour win. For the other, at the Rocket in 2021, he beat another 2024 contender Merritt, who has four top-20s here, on the fifth hole of sudden death.

"It does help being comfortable here," Davis said. "I know what game plan does work around here, so that's a mystery that I don't have to deal with that you have to most other events. But from there, it's kind of going about your business and not trying to force it to happen. It's been a lot of hard work to get myself back to a space where I can let the good golf come again.

"It's nice to see that it's some good scores being on the board now."

Bhatia, like most professional golfers, knows all too well the roller coasters of trying to make it on this stage.

Bhatia took a road less traveled toward professional golf, with the California native turning professional as a 17-year-old, rather than going to college. That's common among golfers outside of the United States to turn pro early, but most of the top American juniors play collegiately first.

Bhatia started on the smaller circuits, with occasional appearances in big-time tournaments, before landing on the Korn Ferry Tour. He earned special PGA Tour temporary membership last winter, and then earned his PGA Tour card with a win in the 2023 Barracuda Championship. He followed that win up with another this April, at the Texas Open.

There were critics when he turned pro, but they're pretty quiet these days, especially over the past month, as Bhatia, now 22 and engaged, has gotten hotter and hotter, despite playing a ninth consecutive tournament this week.

"I mean, I think I always believed that my path is going to work out. That's why I decided not to go to school," said Bhatia, who may not have gone to college but easily looks like the most-studious player on the PGA Tour, with those glasses, that beard, and the long hair. "I've got a long time to go before I can say this is the right decision.

"But so far, I've made progress every year I've been a pro. It's nice to see.

"And I'm going to keep learning."

That'd be the right stuff, for the lefty.