Akshay Bhatia Becomes Latest Valspar Championship Withdrawal

Akshay Bhatia has become the latest player to withdraw from the Valspar Championship.

The Florida event has taken hit after hit this week with Robert MacIntyre, Keith Mitchell, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, William Mouw and Max Greyserman all withdrawing.

MacIntyre, the World No.9, was the second-highest ranked player in the field while the latest withdrawal Akshay Bhatia was another of the tournament favorites at World No.22.

Bhatia was coming into the event hot after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago. He finished T13th at The Players this weekend and competed in TGL on Tuesday night, as his Jupiter Links team defeated Rory McIlroy's Boston Common.

The Californian has been replaced in the field by Sam Ryder, while Doug Ghim, Andrew Putnam, Kris Ventura, Justin Lower and Joel Dahmen all made their way into the event via the other withdrawals.

Two other players gained entry, Matt Kuchar and Seamus Power, via Brooks Koepka's participation following his return to the PGA Tour via the Returning Member Program.

It is still a strong line-up despite a swathe of WDs, with World No.7 Xander Schauffele headlining along with JJ Spaun, Justin Thomas and last week's Players Championship runner-up, Matt Fitzpatrick. Koepka and Jordan Spieth are other big names competing.