Bhatia started his back-nine charge with four successive birdies and nearly holed his 6-iron that went right at the flag on the par-5 16th.Â
He eventually secured a playoff against Daniel Berger, and produced a par on the first extra hole to win at Bay Hill.
"You just never know what can happen in this game," Bhatia said after he closed with a 3-under 69 and won his third PGA Tour title, all of them in playoffs.
This was the biggest, a $AU28 million signature event that moves the 24-year-old into the top 20 in the world at the start of a big stretch in golf that concludes with the Masters next month.
Australia's Min Woo Lee finished with a final-round 70 to share sixth place for the tournament at -10.
Adam Scott also shot 70 on Sunday (Monday AEDT) and was tied for 11th at six under par.
Berger looked like he had the tournament won on Sunday, walking confidently after building a four-shot lead at the turn. He lost the lead by missing a 7-foot par putt on the 17th hole and showed plenty of moxie just to get into the playoff with an up-and-down from 70 yards for par on the final hole for a 70.
Berger and Bhatia finished at 15-under 273 and went to the first playoff at Bay Hill since 1999.
Berger, who has lost big chunks of time in recent years with a back injury and then a broken finger suffered last August, was trying to become the first wire-to-wire winner at Bay Hill in 10 years.
"It's tough to win. It's tough to battle," he said. "A shot here or there was the difference."
That goes for Bhatia, too. He and Berger returned Sunday morning to finish the third round. Berger had a three-shot lead until the 18th hole, when he made bogey from the right rough and Bhatia made birdie when his 10-foot putt hung on the lip for just under 10 seconds and then dropped.
Berger's consolation prize, aside from the $2.2 million for finishing second, was earning a spot in the British Open and moving well into the top 40 in the world, which should make him safe to return to the Masters next month.
Cameron Young, who used to spend his winters in Orlando as a child, played bogey-free for a 69 and tied for third with Ludvig Aberg (67).
Scottie Scheffler took another double bogey on the 18th hole - his second in as many rounds and his third double bogey in his last 19 holes at Bay Hill - for a 73. He tied for 24th. It was the first time since the US Open last year that he failed to break 70 at a tournament.
25°C