One man who enjoyed a front-row seat for the start of Rory McIlroy's epic Masters victory was wowed at the Grand Slam champion's display at Augusta National.
Akshay Bhatia played alongside McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg in the opening two rounds at Augusta National - where the Northern Irishman went 72-66 to set up his historic weekend.
McIlroy was cruising at four under before two late double bogeys looked to have cost him dear in the opening round, but his response was emphatic with a bogey-free 66 on Friday.
McIlroy displayed some trademark brilliance off the tee in both rounds, with Bhatia watching on in wonder when getting a close look at him during the opening rounds.
“I’ve never seen someone hit a driver that good," Bhatia said on an appearance on GOLF's Subpar podcast.
"He played great the first round and made a couple of doubles and somehow I beat him the first round.
"And I was like, man, that guy, he played so freaking good. And you almost feel like, how do I compete with that?
"He hits it far, he hits it straight, his wedge play was great. He didn’t miss I don’t think inside 10 feet on Friday.”
There was plenty more drama to come over the weekend, when McIlroy finally completed his career Grand Slam after a dramatic Sunday at Augusta.
And Bhatia says watching McIlroy finally slip on that Green Jacket was an inspiring sight having watched the Northern Irishman's decade of struggle to get over the line.
“It was really cool for me to see, as he’s kind of been the guy of our generation, to finally cap it off,” Bhatia added. “It really inspired me and a lot of people I think watching that final round.”
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