Q. A bit of a tough day out there. Can you sum it up?
AKSHAY BHATIA: Didn't drive it well enough, didn't make any putts, and it played hard, too, with the wind.
Q. Any learnings from today?
AKSHAY BHATIA: Just need to drive it better. Just didn't hit enough fairways and then missed it in the wrong spots a couple times.
Q. I think you should be in for the weekend --
AKSHAY BHATIA: Yeah, I haven't checked. I hope so.
Q. Anything you left behind there?
AKSHAY BHATIA: Yeah, I just didn't convert on some holes and then, like I said, I just didn't hit it in the fairway enough. It's just golf.
Q. Any particular hole that gave you trouble more than others?
AKSHAY BHATIA: I think 8 was pretty annoying. I hit two good shots there and didn't get up-and-down, and then 10 I hit it in a spot you can't hit it.
13, I didn't get up-and-down from a pretty good spot on that green.
15 didn't convert.
Then obviously finishing the way I did on 17 and 18 was not fun.
Q. Is it because the wind picked up late in your round?
AKSHAY BHATIA: Yeah, I just wasn't super comfortable with my driver. So it's just hard when you try and play this golf course, you've got to hit it pretty straight and you've got to hit it in the right spots, and I was just not in the right spots.
Q. Actually not the best day for you, but you witnessed probably a great round of golf today from Rory, especially given what happened to him towards the end of the day yesterday. Can you just tell us as a playing partner how that round went about and what you thought of it?
AKSHAY BHATIA: Yeah, I mean, he started out pretty solid to start the day, and then making birdie on 10 and 11 is a joke here.
I think most people realize -- he hit it to a foot on 10 and then he hit it to four feet on 11.
And then obviously 13, he obviously wasn't trying to hit it there and then it covered and then he makes the putt.
Then 15, that ball stays right on the green and it's a great two-putt there.
Nice up-and-down on 16.
Really good shot on 17. He just kind of had it going. He didn't make many mistakes. He drove it on a rope the first two days when I played with him. It's really cool to see. He's the best driver in our game currently, so yeah, it's awesome to see.
Q. Will you look at this round as one of your great learnings in your very short major career?
AKSHAY BHATIA: It's just try and get more comfortable in the majors and try and figure out the golf course here especially.
But yeah, I mean, a lot of guys have had success at a young age like Jordan and Rory and obviously Ludvig. I'm still trying to kind of get more and more into that group per se and trying to be in the mix more. I definitely have to sharpen a lot of things up.
Q. Are there advantages you feel as a lefty when you think about Phil and Weir and Bubba?
AKSHAY BHATIA: Yeah, I think certain tee shots for sure are a lot, I guess, more eye catching to us than to a right-handed player. I think the majority of it just favors lefty.
The only hole I would say that's a little better for a righty is 18. But if you think of 2, if you think of 9, you think 10, you think 12, 13, so there's a lot of holes that kind of we can just really cut it, and it's a lot harder nowadays with the technology to hit a draw for a right-handed player.
Q. The wind, the up and down, the slopes, the uneven lies, how much does that fit the way you like to play golf in general?
AKSHAY BHATIA: It's definitely different. You have to hit a lot of shots, which I really enjoy. But I think what's so great about Augusta National is how uncomfortable those shots feel, especially on 10.
The green is angled right, ball is below your feet and you have wind which the first couple days have been into and off the right.
It's just so tricky because it's not that hard of a shot. You have an 8-iron in your hand. But you can't miss it right, you can't miss it too far left. It's a lot of fun to try and figure out, and I feel like every time I come to Augusta National for whatever reason, my short game I just enjoy imagining all these shots, and my only birdie today was chipping in.
I think it's just fun kind of playing a golf course like this because it's not too long, and there's no thick rough. But it's as hard as it gets.
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