WATCH: 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic leader Akshay Bhatia loses ball to a drainage hole
Akshay Bhatia was plagued by a bizzare incident during the second round of the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic, when he lost his ball to a drainage hole. Despite the hiccup during the second round, Bhatia continued his play after taking a free drop for his next shot.
The drain covers at the Detroit Golf Club are unusually large, and unfortunately Bhatia was a victim of the same. His ball disappeared on the 17th hole of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and he immediately knew where it went. Staring down the drainage, the Rocket Mortgage Classic leader commented (as per PGA Tour):
"Fairly certain that's a Callaway at the bottom."
The rules official overseeing the incident said that they did not need to get the ball out of the drainage, and allowed Bhatia to take a free drop from the nearest point of relief.
You can watch the incident here:
Akshay Bhatia went on to birdie the par-5 hole, and continued on with his tournament. Bhatia had an impressive Day 1 at the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic, shooting an 8 under 64 to take the lead for the tournament.
Exploring the leaderboard for Day 1 of the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic
Following is the leaderboard after Day 1 of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
- 1 Akshay Bhatia -8
- T2 Taylor Montgomery -7
- T2 Michael Kim -7
- T4 Aaron Rai -6
- T4 Eric Cole -6
- T4 Rickie Fowler -6
- T4 Will Zalatoris -6
- T4 Matti Schmid -6
- T9 Nick Dunlap -5
- T9 Cameron Young -5
- T9 Ben Kohles -5
- T9 Ben Silverman -5
- T9 Jhonattan Vegas -5
- T9 J.J. Spaun -5
- T9 Ben Griffin -5
- T9 Neal Shipley -5
- T17 Lanto Griffin -4
- T17 Carl Yuan -4
- T17 Aaron Baddeley -4
- T17 Taylor Moore -4
- T17 Chris Kirk -4
- T17 Ryan Brehm -4
- T17 Chandler Phillips -4
- T17 Davis Thompson -4
- T17 Jacob Bridgeman -4
- T17 Roger Sloan -4
- T17 Justin Lower -4
- T17 Min Woo Lee -4
- T17 Cam Davis -4
- T17 Zach Johnson -4
- T17 Wesley Bryan -4
- T17 Robby Shelton -4
- T17 Michael Thorbjornsen -4
- T17 Blaine Hale, Jr. -4
- T35 Max Greyserman -3
- T35 Jason Dufner -3
- T35 Chad Ramey -3
- T35 Erik van Rooyen -3
- T35 Luke Clanton (a) -3
- T35 Dylan Wu -3
- T35 C.T. Pan -3
- T35 Charley Hoffman -3
- T35 Matt Wallace -3
- T35 Patrick Rodgers -3
- T35 Troy Merritt -3
- T35 Patton Kizzire -3
- T35 Sam Stevens -3
- T35 Pierceson Coody -3
- T35 Rico Hoey -3
- T50 Kevin Yu -2
- T50 Nate Lashley -2
- T50 Kevin Tway -2
- T50 Davis Riley -2
- T50 Peter Malnati -2
- T50 Luke List -2
- T50 Nick Hardy -2
- T50 Joel Dahmen -2
- T50 Kevin Streelman -2
- T50 Scott Gutschewski -2
- T50 Callum Tarren -2
- T50 Chan Kim -2
- T50 Nicholas Lindheim -2
- T50 Ben James (a) -2
- T50 Ryan McCormick -2
- T50 Vince Whaley -2
- T50 Daniel Berger -2
- T50 Keith Mitchell -2
- T50 Taylor Pendrith -2
- T50 Jake Knapp -2
- T50 Nico Echavarria -2
- T50 Matt Kuchar -2
- T50 Gary Woodland -2
- T50 Camilo Villegas -2
- T50 Alex Smalley -2
Miles Russell, all of 15, shot a 2 over 72 as he made his PGA Tour debut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Amateur golfer Luke Clanton had an impressive round of play, that set him in 35th place after Day 1.