Even without his ‘best stuff,’ Akshay Bhatia’s big 36-hole lead is among 5 things to know from Valero Texas Open

Imagine if he was playing well.

Akshay Bhatia might have been given a slight break with his tee time, giving him a window in which the winds at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course stayed manageable, but the 22-year-old put on another show in Central Texas on Friday. He followed up his scintillating 63 on Thursday by teasing the field a bit, dropping a couple shots on his first nine holes, but backed it up with a 33 on his final nine to maintain a healthy lead.

While many others were struggling with the wind on the Greg Norman design, Bhatia stayed smooth and steady in finishing with a 70 to close the day at 11 under.

Yet Bhatia wasn’t impressed with his own play, noting that the day was a bit of a slog.

“It was stressful, for sure, wasn’t my best stuff,” he said. “I felt like I struggled a lot off the tee today, golf swing didn’t feel great with any of the longer stuff, but iron play was still phenomenal, wedges were good, made some nice putts. I know I’m reading the greens really good so I kind of understand when I’m missing putts right now why that’s happening. So it’s good, a good kind of understanding of kind of where I need to improve the next couple days.”

Rather than skipping back to his hotel room with the big edge, Bhatia hung around for Smylie Kaufman’s Golf Channel ‘Happy Hour’ and insisted he’d rather sit and watch more golf than lay in the resort’s lazy river.