Akshay Bhatia turned professional at the age of 17 after opting to skip college and pursue his dream. Since then, the left-hander has enjoyed a stratospheric rise up to the top level, working his way up through the Korn Ferry Tour and onto the PGA Tour.
Throughout that time, he has only worked with a very small number of caddies - one of whom was his girlfriend.
Having met Presleigh Schultz shortly before the Valero Texas Open in 2021, Bhatia later asked his partner to become his caddie (before proposing an even bigger question in 2023). She said yes (to both, actually) and the pair set about forging their way on the PGA Tour for almost two years.
In 2023, Schultz chose to support her man from outside of the ropes as Bhatia brought Brian Dilley on board. The professional success there was almost instantaneous, with the California-born star clinching the Barracuda Championship in July for his first PGA Tour title and amassing nearly $2.5 million in career prize money by the end of the year.
Dilley - an experienced caddie who has worked with the likes of Suzann Pettersen and Billy Horschel on the LPGA Tour and PGA Tour, respectively - helped Bhatia until the early part of 2024.
According to Golfweek, Dilley - who is friends with Jon Rahm's caddie, Adam Hayes - then departed the PGA Tour entirely in order to link up with Caleb Surratt in the LIV Golf League.
That left Bhatia with an open position, which was filled by Justin Suh's former looper, Ryan Jamison, between the end of the Valspar Championship and the start of the Texas Children's Houston Open.
In fact, whilst together, the pair won that Houston Open event, with Bhatia claiming a second PGA Tour title and a $1.6 million payday. Speaking about the win, the American stated: "I was never calm today (third round) and it was the hardest thing to deal with. It's just so hard, you feel so tense and all these things in your stomach, your mind can kind of go one way. I kept to my game plan. I tried to talk as much as I could to my caddie."
Jamison, who was a college golf coach for 16 years, started caddying in 2021 and, although the pair had early success, it's unclear as to why Bhatia and Jamison are no longer working together. As of writing, we believe that Jamison is back working with Suh.
Now that Jamison is working elsewhere, Bhatia has John Limanti on the bag, a caddie with years of experience who has reportedly worked for the likes of Adam Scott, Chris Stroud, Brendon Todd, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell and many more.
Growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, Limanti played college golf at the University of North Florida, with the American claiming that his best ever golf memory came during an AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) event. Speaking to The Caddie Networ in 2018, Limanti explained, "I knew I had to make an eagle on the par-4 18th hole to qualify for Match Play. I had 210 yards to the hole, and miraculously made the shot with my 4-iron… I then went on to meet and play Chris Stroud in the first round. We became great friends and now work together on the Tour."
Bhatia and Limanti started working together in April 2024, around the time of the RBC Heritage. Since then, the pair have produced a number of fine results and, at the Travelers Championship, the duo had a bet on which player would consume the most drink whilst playing in the searing heat of Connecticut.
Speaking to the media, Bhatia revealed that: "I'm probably drinking seven, eight bottles of water a day and then mix that with electrolytes hydration stuff, so it's a fun battle, it's good to keep us on our toes about that". He went on to claim a tied fifth finish, his best result since the Texas Open victory.
