Akshay Bhatia’s win at Bay Hill was tainted by cheating allegations. Fans accused him of anchoring his putter to gain an unfair advantage on the green. A week later, he’s not in contention at TPC Sawgrass. But the chatter around his putting technique has still not stopped. That prompted Bhatia to suggest an unorthodox method to prove his innocence.

Dan Rapaport shared a screenshot from the broadcast of The Players Championship with subtitles that had Bhatia saying, “I want to take a picture of me brooming it with my shirt off.”

He’s suggesting that he wants to putt bare-chested to prove that the butt end of the club is not touching his sternum. With no polo to obstruct the view, fans would be able to clearly see if he is actually anchoring or not. For those who aren’t aware, anchoring the club against the chest is illegal.

If Bhatia continues to find the target without resting the club on his chest, then his innocence will be proven. As absurd as his method may be, that is probably the best way he can prove his doubters wrong. He probably won’t be able to do it at TPC Sawgrass. But Akshay Bhatia can always share the evidence on social media. There is a reason behind the wacky suggestion.

Bhatia has time and again clarified that what looks like anchoring in the broadcast is actually anything but that. While he hunches down, the T-shirt brushes against the butt end of the putter. On TV, the difference between his chest and the putter looks almost non-existent. However, the reality is quite different.

“Not anchoring. Literally 2 inches short of my chest haha,” wrote the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner on Instagram a few days back.

Akshay Bhatia had to defend himself because a single accusation can kick up a storm and throw someone’s reputation into question. Bernhard Langer battled the same throughout his career. Despite being 68 and playing on the PGA Tour Champions, critics have refused to let the German International off the hook.

There was no reason for the issue to be dragged on to TPC Sawgrass as well. Akshay Bhatia is not even in contention for it to come into play. After three rounds, the two-time PGA Tour winner is at T26 (4-under). He has lost 0.615 strokes with his putter, ranking 54th among 73 players who made the cut.

Interestingly, despite the debate among the netizens, Akshay Bhatia hasn’t been criticized by his peers. In fact, many of them even pointed out how the situation is quite different up close.

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Akshay Bhatia gets a vote of confidence from his peers

Akshay Bhatia’s anchoring has never been a topic of discussion among the PGA Tour pros. That says a lot considering that they are the ones most affected by it. Neither one of his PGA Tour mates has questioned him about his putting.

In fact, Michael Kim also revealed how the anchoring seems a lot different on television than it does in person. Having seen him putt before, the 32-year-old says that Bhatia is certainly not anchoring against his chest.

Kim tweeted, “It’s funny to me that Akshay anchoring is a thing. In person, it’s not that close. This is not a concern amongst the players.”

He even stated that if this were an actual issue, then the players would have been more concerned about it than the fans. Recently, Jordan Spieth also came to support Akshay Bhatia.

“There’s a skill to it. And if it were that easy to do and made everyone that much better, everybody would do it. It’s a skill to do. He’s been doing it for a long time,” the three-time major winner told Kay Adams from TPC Sawgrass. 

Clearly, Akshay Bhatia’s peers are not bothered about it, so the netizens shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions.