Sahith Theegala, who took fourth in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines (North) January 25 - 28 in his last action, heads into the 2023 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale with +4000 odds to win. Besides, he has his birthday celebration on December 4 each year. Muralidhar, though, provided the necessary context. But he destroyed me, so he kind of got me back into chess, and that happened to be the year I injured my wrist too, so I wasnt able to play any sports, so I was sitting indoors all day just trying to get better at chess. POINTS In the years after Sahith was born in 1997, the family bond strengthened, with birthday parties serving as regular reunions. Theegala was born in Fullerton, Calif., eight months after Woods won his first professional major championship at the 1997 Masters, and moved to Chino Hills outside of Los Angeles when he was about 2 years old. Theegala grabbed the lead in Scottsdale with a second-round 64. He had no shot, absolutely no shot, but he pulled out his sand wedge and hit this unbelievable shot just to the left of the pin and made 3, Hunter said. Thats moxie. Last week, though, at Sony he was really excited about Klay Thompson coming back to the Warriors with Steph (Curry) and Klay back together.. And Riviera is one of my favorite golf courses, so nothing but good memories there. Paired with Phil Mickelson for the final 32 holes on Sunday after a weather delay with thousands of spectators following along, Theegala hit his tee shot on the famed par-3 sixth hole featuring a bunker in the middle of the green over the bunker to the back of the green. "I definitely think that Asian heritage part is . But make no mistake about it. I knew my family and friends would be out there. He graduated from Diamond Bar High School in California, which is the same school that produced Kevin Na (opens in new tab). 1. If Theegala isnt on the golf course, theres a decent chance hes competing in another game chess. Hunter said the precocious little 7-year-old Theegala, who had just won the Junior World Golf Championships as a 6-year-old, came back frustrated after a recent tournament because there was a tree on a par-3 that he couldnt hit it over, so he needed Hunter to help him with the solution he came up with a solution hes still using today. Sorry, you have Javascript Disabled! I would cry when the Lakers would lose or Kobe would have a bad game when I was young. Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. He faced a sandy lie with rocks all around the ball, on a downslope, pitching to an elevated green with a back-right hole location. He wouldnt hurt a fly, Cootes said. Thats what we do as a family, Muralidhar said. Theegala, 22, who is Indian-American, now faces the biggest challenge of any amateurs path, turning pro, as one of the smattering of nonwhite players in a traditionally conservative sport. 7 and sank one of the most beautiful aces youll ever see. I ended up being in the lead so I didnt want it to affect me that much, and I was still 100 percent going to do it on the last hole. The idea that he had a ton of pressure on him while Theegala could fly under the radar is just bogus. Sahith Theegala has made his debut at the U.S. Open Tour 2021 of PGA at Torey Pines South Course. Theegala was close to crying again in January when he finished off a college win at the Southwestern Invitational wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey over his collared shirt, two days after Bryants fatal helicopter crash. We have talked aboutSahith Theegalas parents so now is the time to talk about his ethnic background and nationality, we want to tell you that his ethnicity is white. Smith remembers rooming with him for the first time at this years Korn Ferry Tour Finals, and he was curious regarding which show Theegala was watching so intently on his computer. Theegala has a best finish of second, and an average finish of 31st, in his 30 events during the past year (including 26 made cuts). In the background, you can hear a young fan asking for Pereira's . And while hes still looking for that first professional victory, hes got things working just fine one year into his pro career. From here, well let Theegala tell it. Smith has seen so many ridiculous escapes from wayward tee shots that hes just had to learn to trust Theegala when he wants to hit a recovery shot that he thinks is too risky or difficult. It doesnt matter if its from out of the woods and around trees or getting out of jail greenside; they all end the same. Well before he was a three-time all-American golfer at Pepperdine and long before he made his . I think its pretty cool that I could have a chance to represent my culture on a big stage.. All kinds of random stuff like that. He was the Sierra Leagues Athlete of the Year as a senior and the League MVP as a junior. Ans. If we talked about his zodiac sign then because of taking birth on December 4. The two sports we watched were golf and basketball, and Ive been a Lakers fan since I can remember. He currently lives in Chino Hills, California. NFL Player Damar Hamlin in Critical Condition after Collapsing on Field, Legendary Designer Vivienne Westwood Dies Aged 81, 10 Female IAS Officers who can inspire us. I was asking him how his short game is so put together, and he basically said nothing is mechanics-based, Cootes said. Theo Mackie covers Arizona high school sports and Phoenix Rising FC. Maybe he can walk away thinking, I can still compete with the best in the world when I wasnt hitting everything exactly where I wanted to. Just that alone could hopefully give him that extra belief and confidence that he can compete with these guys and be a player on the tour for a long time.. "I'm definitely proud of my Indian heritage and I hope I'm inspiring other Indian Americans and people in India to know they can compete in sports," he told Global Indian. I was in disbelief. What is Sahith Theegalas ethnicity? Bath One of his hobbies away from the golf course is chess. . Hes just like, Carl, you have to see my courtesy car this week! Never, though, had he experienced a moment like this weekend, when he quickly became a cult hero at TPC Scottsdale. Theegala grabbed the lead in Scottsdale with a second-round 64. Sahith Theegala hardly remembered the details, but his father did. Hes very comfortable with who he is.. He had won 8 Amature PGA tournaments and became Australian Master of the Amateurs in 2020. Press Esc to cancel. That was definitely my most vivid memory of him shanking shots on the range for fun.. He likes to curve the ball a lot. He had won 8 Amature PGA tournaments and became Australian Master of the Amateurs in 2020. Standing 6-foot-3, with a languid and unorthodox swing and a sublime short game, Theegala will make the second PGA Tour start of his career this week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, hoping that his professional future can have a special impact. Gregory Odom Jr. of Howard University, the 2023 Collegiate Showcase Pathway Player, pulled hard but finished in a tie for third place with a round of 1-over-par 72. In a 27-year teaching and coaching career, Watkins says Theegala is easily one of the most humble kids he has ever coached or taught. 7. He just loves to be around us and have a good time, and hes super supportive. To see this page as it is meant to appear, please enable your Javascript! As a young kid, Sahith first decided to try the sport after watching PGA Tour events with Muralidhar. Copyright 2023 PGA TOUR, Inc. All rights reserved. Unbelievable shot. He has a knack for getting out of trouble and making par.. Now we tell you about his religion is not known. Theegala had won the first tournament he played in at the age of 6, the prestigious Junior Worlds in San Diego, and won it again at ages 8 and 10. Now we are talking about his parents, He is the son of Muralidhar Theegala (father) and Karuna Theegala (mother). And he has a great imagination. Named a first-team All-American, Theegala also became just the fifth player in history to win the Fred Haskins Award, the Ben Hogan Award, and the Jack Nicklaus Award. 2022. Theegala made one final start in 2020, missing the cut at the Sanderson Farms Championship. At least once every two years, his father, Muralidhar, who was born in Hyderabad, India, made it a point to bring the family back to India, where his parents still live. Los Angeles, UCLAs senior trio has persevered in restoring the Bruins to national prominence, Hes taken the next step: How Boogie Ellis found his game as USCs point guard, Even after Gavin Lux injury, Andrew Friedman hints at patient approach with roster, Elliott: After trading away Jonathan Quick, Kings make more deals ahead of trade deadline, After four decades, trainer Ed Moger gets his first Triple Crown starter. WM Phoenix Open: Spurred by family support, Sahith Theegala records life-changing finish. His best finish on the PGA Tour came at the 2022 Travelers Championship where he ended T2nd. Theegala shot 62 in his first round as a pro before finishing in a tie for third, taking in about a $1,000 profit after the entry fee and expenses. Hes just looking at the shot and trying to come up with the best situation to get it in the hole. lead, Theegala's 64 good for 1-shot lead in Mississippi, Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. So his father, Muralidhar, who was born in Hyderabad, India, took him to a practice area at a local private country club he knew of near their home in the Los Angeles suburbs. Meet Phoenix Open leader with one hell of a Kobe story. By Sapana Bajracharya July 21, 2022 02:35 PM; Sahith Theegala is a professional golfer from United States. https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2022/02/15/wm-phoenix-open-sahith-theegala-family-life-changing-finish/, Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic islands, Central America, Top 50 Classic Courses in Great Britain & Ireland, Top 50 Modern Courses in Great Britain & Ireland, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. So, Id definitely say my father. As a result he likes to feel his way around the golf course and move it both ways, in the same manner as Bubba Watson for example. It just so happened that I had a one-shot lead. The most remarkable part of Theegalas week came in his ability to succeed under pressure. Theegala grew up in a family that emphasized academics and was enthralled by American sports. Theegala was born in Orange, California, on December 4th 1997. He has joined the private research university Pepperdine. Theegala is a golfer from America and a member of the PGA Tour. A few holes later, a pair of Indian fans who found inspiration in Sahiths performance got a photo with Sahan Sahiths brother, who flew in Sunday from Seton Hall in New Jersey because he wouldnt miss it for the world.. Other notable alums from the school include Major League Baseball's Jim Edmonds, football's Alex Morgan and the NBA's Keith Van Horn. You go from potentially making two to making five.. Sahith Theegala Biography Sahith Theegala Wiki, Muni He (Golfer) Wiki, Age, Boyfriend, Parents, Height, Lpga, Rankings, House, Net Worth, Instagram, Robert Finley Americas Got Talent Wiki, Bio, Age, Wife, Kids, Family, Net Worth, Height, Instagram, Nationality and Ethnicity, Connor Cyrus Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Salary, Kids, Net Worth, WCAX, Height, Instagram, Miley Cyrus Grandma: Loretta Jean Palmer Finley Wiki, Age, Cause of Death, Family, Net Worth, Husband, Obituary. Sahith Theegala hits his tee shot on Friday on the 8th hole at TPC Scottsdale. Really, really proud of him.. He led the PGA Tour in birdies made for the 2012-22 season with a total of 433. Access the best of Getty Images with our simple subscription plan. He cites Riviera, Martis Camp and Alotian Club as three of his favourite golf courses. Theegala played four years on the varsity and was on the All-Sierra League first team all four years. This kid can flat-out play. He then went on to play four seasons on the varsity golf team at Diamond Bar High School and was an All-Sierra League first-team selection all four years, also leading his team to a league title every year. We talk about basketball all the time because I follow basketball and the Lakers a lot, Smith said. Sahith Theegala is an American professional player of Indian ethnic background. He was playing online chess. His dream fourball would be Tiger Woods, his coach Michael Beard from Pepperdine, and his Dad, who doesn't know how to play golf but taught the game to Sahith. Theegala grew up a Lakers fan in Chino Hills, Calif. Hunter said the precocious little 7-year-old Theegala, who had just won the Junior World Golf Championships as a 6-year-old, came back frustrated after a recent tournament because there was a tree on a par-3 that he couldnt hit it over, so he needed Hunter to help him with the solution he came up with a solution hes still using today. He continued his season with a tied-for-sixth finish at the Genesis Invitational in February 2023. When Beard first began recruiting Theegala, he did so as much for the wunderkinds resume as for his unconventional approach. Sahith Theegala is an American professional golfer. He made his debut at the U.S. Open Tour 2021 of PGA at Torey Pines South Course. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Hunter and Theegala have realized that he offsets the side bend best with the driver when he swings with a slower tempo, which the two have been working regularly on. Sahith Theegalas net worth is estimated to be $2 million. If youre not trying to win, what are you doing?, Golfers Pro Journey Starts With a Burst Bubble, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/02/sports/golf/sahith-theegala-pga-tour.html. He put everything that he could into me. But if you shoot 68 playing your game all the time, thats usually going to beat someone who occasionally shoots 62. Hopefully things work out, and by the grace of God, hell do wonderful. I could hardly play the practice round. Kon Hai Alakh Pandey aka Physics Wallah Wife Shivani Dubey? Alongside the 13th fairway, a pair of fans came up to take a selfie with Muralidhar the first time in his life thats ever happened. And the fact he got a sponsors invitation you hadnt heard of him, and now hes playing with the top 20 players in the world, Ryder Cuppers.. I did Chess Masters in elementary school. He finished in the top 20 in each of the eight tournaments in which he played and had six top-10s, including two wins. Odom competed in the Collegiate Showcase at The Riviera Country Club on Monday, February 13 with the opportunity to earn the final . Full-swing flop-shots from a foot off the chipping green made people fear for their safety. This weekend, theyll be playing in front of fans who are maybe best described this way: Talor Gooch was asked Friday the best costume hes seen at TPC Scottsdale. Sahith is graduated from Pepperdine University and named three-time NCAA All-American. Hes made five more starts on the KFT since then and has made the cut in each, his best finish a tie for ninth at the MGM Resorts Championship at Paiute. Theegala judges it perfectly, leaving himself with a tap-in for par. His caddie, who had never caddied for a rookie until now, has appreciated the youthful exuberance and appreciation that Theegala has found on TOUR. With that all in mind, and the knowledge that Theegala is a 24-year-old rook on Tour who still lives at home with Mom and Dad, youre right to wonder how hell hold up with Brooksie, Patty Ice, an Olympic gold medalist, bananas and a monkey hounding him. At the age of 19, he made his PGA Tour debut at the 2017 Genesis Open in Los Angeles - three years before turning professional. How much so? It was just the most casual ball-striking clinic, Oh said. On both weekend days, he was in the tournaments marquee threesome, including Sundays group that featured Koepka and Scottie Scheffler. 14 . Seemingly everyone who has played with him or seen him play has a story, and the plot follows the same script: Theegala escapes from a near-impossible situation. He also loves to test golf apparel especially if it a piece that can be used just about anywhere! Who are Sahith Theegala Parents (Father, Mother), Siblings? Stars are everywhere on the leaderboard heading into the weekend at Bay Hill. It was incredible. Top 100 Courses in the U.S.: GOLFs all-new 2022-23 ranking is here! He likes courses where you can play out of the trees, Beard said. You can reach out to him about any of these topics his stories, his game or his beers at nick.piastowski@golf.com. Ive never seen anything like it, Smith said. An unlucky bounce sent his tee shot into the water and the resulting bogey cost him a spot in Sundays playoff. He just has a way about him. He fell in love with it immediately. And it was different because we had no experience with sports at all, so he spearheaded the whole mission to college and professional golf. He was leading the WM Phoenix Open by a shot, but hes also a hoops head. He held the lead into the final hole but made a double bogey to hand the title to Xander Schauffele. His longtime coach Rick Hunters favorite escape courtesy of a short game that he thinks has been world-class for eight to 10 years came at the Genesis Invitational in 2017. How many episodes are in Full Swing season 1, how long does each episode last, and which languages are official dubbings available in? LIV Golf Has Exploited Some Weaknesses In PGA Tour - Rory McIlroy, 'How Does This Help The So Called Strategic Alliance?' He doesnt care how he has to swing or what he has to do to get the ball in the hole., Lee Elder breaking the color barrier at The Masters, Harold Varner III addressing racial inequity, Woodss rise had been predicted to prompt an influx of golfers. Hes giving high-fives to the people walking by. Theegala has scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine, which has always forced him to make a different motion than his peers. Afterward, Theegala was asked about the finish to his first round on Friday morning, when he had played two holes and bogeyed both. Hovland stepped up to the tee at the par-3 No. Its literally a goat track. The key for Theegala will be keeping the ball in the fairway. Since his PGA Tour debut last summer, hes jumped nearly 1,400 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking and is only going to continue to rise if he plays the way hes capable of playing. But when Im around my friends and other golfers, its not something that I think about.. When Sahith was less than 2 years old, Muralidhar would prop the toddler up on his knee to watch Lakers games on television. The No. Start the Golf Season off right with InsideGOLF ($100 value - just $20). They proceeded to chipping, and Theegala stabbed at those, but they all either went in or ended up right beside the cup. Well before he was a three-time All-American golfer at Pepperdine and long before he made his professional PGA Tour debut this. But Theegalas game was not as sharp as hed hoped during his PGA Tour debut at the Travelers Championship last weekend, as he shot even par over two rounds and missed the cut. Im really excited about getting a spot to my hometown event.. He was born in Orange, California. He was the San Gabriel Valley Tribunes Area Player of the Year as a junior after winning the Hacienda League title and reaching the CIF state tournament. Kurt Kitayama took advantage of Jon Rahm's struggles on Friday, shooting a 4-under 68 to grab a two-shot lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. How cool is that? At Sony (Open), wed had two months off, and he did to say to me, Yeah, I had another one of those moments of like, Wow, Im on the PGA TOUR! Its just so refreshing, and I hope he never loses that.. How do LIV Golf's TV ratings really compare to the PGA Tour? He tied for second at the RSM Classic in November 2022, two shots behind winner Adam Svensson. Its his senior year at Pepperdine, and the Waves are practicing for a home tournament, when he and the rest of the basketball world came to a stop in late January of 2020. Rory McIlroy has an intriguing idea for future PGA Tour events, What is Jim Nantzs career lowlight? Let him tell you about adult film, 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational: How to watch, TV schedule, streaming, tee times, Meet the new GOLF Top 100 Teachers of America, 7 interesting gear finds inside Tommy Fleetwoods golf bag | Bag Spy, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Theegala opened his 2022-23 season with a top-10 finish at the Fortinet Championship in September 2022. After a par on the 13th hole, Theegala was back at it on the 14th hole. -Sahith Theegala is an American professional golfer who plays in the PGA Tour. His birth name is Sahith Theegala. After this hole, everything kind of opens up for him, Muralidhar predicted. Its part of the reason he found golf in the first place. School was always at the top of the list, and that translated into me being disciplined on the golf course, and really in all of my life.. 6. Sahith Theegala has started his career at an early age, at Pepperdine University and was named three-time NCAA All-American. 10. Organize, control, distribute and measure all of your digital content. Its a difficult, multi-level putt that requires a deft touch to even get close to the hole. That summer, he qualified for the U.S. Open at Erin Hills but missed the cut after rounds of 77 and 75. Hes still not even sure if Theegala saw him first or not but before he could say hello, he watched a ball go whizzing from the other side of the range towards the yard of some houses near the chipping green. In light of whats going on, Im proud of who I am and what Im adding to the golf community in terms of diversity, Theegala said. He says, I cant get over it, so can you show me how to hit it around it? Hunter recalled. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. Love to see him on the TOP of GOLF ??. the thing that impressed him most about his game was the same that kept him coming back to recruit him for Pepperdine when he was an assistant: the ability to avoid bad rounds even when he didnt have his best stuff. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. We got an Escalade, and this thing is so sick! Or Ill be like, Dude, nice shoes, and hes like, Yeah, they were just sitting in my locker. His coaching style and leade Thegeela said about his parents: My parents always kept me disciplined. Thirty-five years ago, Muralidhar made the most important step in the familys journey, when he immigrated to the United States from Hyderabad, India. He hits his ball into a bush near the green with water on the other side of the green in an impossible spot, and he hits it to like 4 feet out of a bush, said Cootes, who caddied for Theegala at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills when they were both sophomores. Getty Images. I felt OK. I was looking to see if he had any nerves or apprehension. Sahith Theegala is 7 under with two holes left in his opening round in Phoenix. Thats awesome that they feel like Im somebody they can root for.