Cowboys fan dies before Super Bowl LII, gets best obituary ever from his family

Akshay Bhatia's coach in North Carolina, Chase Duncan, had his pupil running sprints before this PGA TOUR season began. Not as punishment, but as an opportunity for Bhatia to get better. Why spend time running instead of grinding on the putting green or driving range? To work on his breathing. He'd run down a fairway, get his heart-rate up, and the duo would see how long it took to slow down again to a normal average. RELATED: What’s in Bhatia’s bag? "I'm trying to understand how I can control myself and make myself feel as comfortable as possible," said Bhatia. After his most recent result at the Safeway Open, it's fair to say he's starting to feel more comfortable on TOUR, too. Bhatia turned professional in 2019 after becoming the youngest player to ever represent the United States in the Walker Cup. He made his pro debut on TOUR at the Sanderson Farms Championship last season. The debut came after he had reached No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. But despite his success on the junior and amateur circuit, it hadn't quite translated to the pro game until the Safeway Open. Bhatia finished T9 there and earned a spot in the field at this week's Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. He was the youngest player to finish in the top 10 of a stroke-play event on the PGA TOUR since Justin Rose finished fourth at the 1998 Open Championship. "It's always nice anytime you get a chance to play the PGA TOUR," Bhatia said. "It's a great way to enjoy things because this is the life I want to have and I have to get a taste of it. Earning my spot here was a different feeling for me and I'm just excited to get it going." It has certainly been a meaty stretch of learning for Bhatia. After putting a bow on an impressive junior golf career - he was on the winning Junior Presidents Cup team in 2017, the winning Junior Ryder Cup team in 2018 and the winning Walker Cup team last year - he hadn't made a cut on the PGA TOUR until the Safeway Open. He was 0-for-7 on TOUR to that point, although he did finish T42 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour in April 2019 after Monday qualifying. "I've learned a lot more from failing than succeeding," Bhatia said. "Golf's such an up and down game and you can really let it take the best of you, but I've learned a lot. "Obviously it would have been great to get off to a good start, turning pro early, but the way it's worked out I've learned a lot about myself with the failures I've had and understanding a lot of things. I've taken a lot more from not playing my greatest golf and understanding what I can get better at." Bhatia said he's had his eyes opened to how many good players are on TOUR and how many could win on any given week. Patience is key, he said. During the COVID-19 break, he worked hard to add more shots to his repertoire and better understand how he feels under pressure - hence the sprints and the breathing exercises. He said he still feels like he's got momentum this week in Puntacana, despite the fact that his top-10 at the Safeway Open was two weeks ago. "Anytime you get to play competition, that's the greatest thing - to play against the best," he said. Bhatia spent last week recovering from the rigors of contending on the PGA TOUR. He watched the last few holes of the U.S. Open because runner-up Matthew Wolff is a fellow George Gankas student and Bhatia played with DeChambeau at a Monday qualifier a few years ago. "It's kind of crazy to see where he is now. At the time I thought he was hitting it so far," Bhatia said of DeChambeau. "He was carrying it and was taking these lines where I thought, ‘holy crap.' It must be just amazing what he's doing now." Still, Bhatia is taking things one step at a time as he tries to reach the same level on TOUR as DeChambeau and Wolff and the laundry list of other young stars in the game. He said this week at Corales is one of "the coolest places" he's been to play golf in his life, and, with a laugh, he said he'd of course rather be in the Dominican than at home or grinding at a Monday qualifier. "The biggest thing for me is just to try to go out and birdie every hole. That's all I'm aiming to do - just try to play golf. There's nothing really special to it. Adding pressure to it doesn't make you play better," said Bhatia. "I'm just going to have a good time, enjoy the views, and it's going to be a fun week."

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SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Peter Malnati saw his infant son at a PGA TOUR event for the first time since the pandemic, which brought a smile to his face and another birdie on his card for an 8-under 63 and a one-shot lead Thursday in the Bermuda Championship. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Ghim taking advantage of second chance The tournament is the first to allow limited fans — no more than 500 a day at Port Royal — since the opening round of THE PLAYERS Championship on March 12. The final birdie was the ninth of the round for Malnati, who has gone from the South to the West to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and keeps playing some of his best golf. It was the third time in his last three events he posted a 63 or lower. Malnati was runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi and followed that with a tie for fifth at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. This round gave him a one-shot lead over Ryan Armour and Doug Ghim, who birdied his last two holes. "With everything in the world right now — and this island is doing a phenomenal job with their testing protocol and keeping everyone safe — I just didn’t know if it was actually going to work for them to get out here," Malnati said of about his wife and 1-year-old son. “So coming off that disappointing bogey on 17, I hit a nice drive on 18 and before I even get my yardage or anything, I see my wife and boy standing out there. "It just brought a huge smile to my face," he said. "To see them and then to finish with that birdie, I’m a happy man." Malnati ran off five straight birdies starting with No. 9, and he was looking to finish strong. Among the shorter hitters in the modern power game, he had made up his mind to take on the bunkers down the right side of the par-5 17th hole and turn it into an easy birdie. Instead, he turned it left into the water for a penalty stroke and made bogey. "So that stunk," he said. "But how can I complain about much? We’re on the island of Bermuda and I sure played great." The Bermuda Championship receives full status this year because the HSBC Champions in Shanghai was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning Bermuda is not the same week as a World Golf Championships event. The winner receives an invitation to the Masters Tournament next year. It also is the start of consecutive PGA TOUR events allowing limited fans. The Houston Open has said it will sell no more than 2,000 tickets a day. The Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, the first event of 2021, also announced this week it would have limited fans. Doc Redman, Vaughn Taylor and Chase Seiffert were at 65, while Hunter Mahan was in the group at 66. It was Mahan’s lowest opening round in more than two years. Three-time major champion and Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington opened with a 67. Harrington won at Port Royal in 2013 in the final stages of the course hosting the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Fred Funk, the 64-year-old regular on the PGA TOUR Champions, shot 69. He played in the same group as his son, Taylor Funk, who shot a 73.

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