Theegala, Sahith (1997- )

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    Schauffele Holds Off Theegala to Win Travelers Championship

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    Xander Schauffele nearly let a three-shot lead slip away, but a birdie on No. 18 gave him a two-stroke victory over Sahith Theegala and J.T. Poston.CROMWELL, Conn. — Before the first round of the Travelers Championship on Thursday, Sahith Theegala, a PGA Tour rookie, was asked if young players in the field were worried about the cluster of veterans spurning the tour to join the rival, Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.“Actually, there’s a next man up mentality,” Theegala, 24, answered. “There are a ton of incredibly good players coming up. There’s not going to be an issue finding the next group of top golfers.”With one hole remaining in Sunday’s final round of the Travelers, it appeared that Theegala was going to be prophetic in the most personally satisfying way.Theegala held a one-stroke lead as he stood on the 18th tee after rallying to catch the third-round leader, Xander Schauffele, who began the day with a three-shot edge over Theegala. Reaching for a driver and needing to hit a left-to-right cut shot, Theegala, who had not bogeyed any of the previous 17 holes, felt confident.“A cut is my bread and butter,” he said later. “And I hit it well, it just didn’t cut. I don’t know why — adrenaline, maybe?”The shot came to rest in a fairway bunker, inches from an imposing, steep bank. Theegala needed two shots to escape the sand, which led to a double bogey and paved the way for Schauffele’s sixth career tour victory. He birdied the 18th hole to win the Travelers Championship by two strokes over Theegala and J.T. Poston.For Schauffele, who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, it was his first individual tour victory in three years. (He teamed with Patrick Cantlay to win the Zurich Classic in Louisiana in April.)“I’m happy because I was expecting to be in a playoff,” Schauffele, 28, said. “That was a really strong field, and Sahith just kept charging. It was a bit of a shock to see the way it played out at the end. I knew the finish would be tight.”Statistically, Schauffele has been having one of his best seasons, even if his efforts had not led to an individual victory, something Schauffele acknowledged Sunday evening.“I just hadn’t put four good consecutive rounds together, which is why mentally this is going to be such a boost for me,” he said. “I’m feeling like this could jump-start some things for me. At the end of the round, I felt really locked in.”Sahith Theegala missed a bogey putt on the 18th green Sunday.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesIt was the second time this year that Theegala had come close to earning his first tour victory. At the Phoenix Open in February, an unlucky bounce on the 17th hole of the final round led to a bogey that left him one shot short of qualifying for a playoff. That loss left Theegala in tears, but Sunday he was calm and measured in his analysis of the final sequences. He occasionally smiled, if wryly.“I played a lot of good golf all week, and I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said. “That’s the feeling I’m leaving with — a lot of positives.”Schauffele agreed with Theegala, in more ways than one.“He’s a really good player, and he just needs to keep knocking on the door until he breaks that thing down,” Schauffele said.He added: “There’s been a lot of talk about where golf is right now. Some say there’s a fracturing of our game, but the future’s bright.”With nine holes remaining on Sunday, Theegala was one of four golfers under 30 jockeying for the lead at the Travelers, one of the tour’s oldest events. The group included Michael Thorbjornsen, a 20-year-old amateur, and Poston, 29. Both were in contention to unseat Schauffele at the top of the leaderboard.Entering the closing holes, the duel between Schauffele and Theegala began to resemble match play, although Theegala was playing one group ahead of Schauffele, who was in the final group of the day.Theegala tied for the lead for the first time when he birdied the par-4 15th hole, and he took the lead outright by sinking an 11-foot birdie at the par-4 17th.As usual, the field at the Travelers was deep with top-ranked players, but this year was especially chock-full because the T.P.C. River Highlands golf course outside Hartford is only 105 miles from the Country Club outside Boston, which hosted last week’s U.S. Open.Poston, who entered the Travelers No. 162 in the men’s world rankings and has one career PGA Tour victory, in 2019, had a sparkling, six-under-par 64 on Sunday. Poston had three birdies on the front nine and three more on the back nine and did not have a bogey. It was his third top-10 finish in his last eight events.Thorbjornsen qualified for this year’s U.S. Open, which was held near his boyhood home of Wellesley, Mass., but he missed the cut last week. At the Travelers, he was sharp, with four rounds in the 60s, including a 65 in the second round. On Sunday, he eagled the par-5 sixth hole after knocking a fairway wood 260 yards to the green and leaving a tap-in putt for a three on the hole. Four birdies and two bogeys led to a four-under 66. More

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      Sahith Theegala Is a Rarity on the PGA Tour in More Ways Than One

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      The Indian American golfer is consistently finding his game as a rookie on tour, but he still lives with his parents and drives a regular old car.ORLANDO, Fla. — Sahith Theegala, whose humble public golf course roots, unpretentious mien and near victory at last month’s Waste Management Phoenix Open have made him a rising young star on the PGA Tour, ended his round on Thursday with a dispiriting three-putt bogey.Theegala, an Indian American from California and the rare nonwhite player on the tour, had hoped for better than a one-over par 73 in his debut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The disappointment was plain on his face as he exited the final green. But after a few steps, Theegala, 24, broke into a smile as he graciously approached two volunteers who had accompanied him as scorekeepers for the previous 18 holes in stiflingly hot conditions.“Thank you for your help and for coming along today,” he said as he shook hands with them.The gesture was an apt close to the scene on the first tee hours earlier, when Theegala politely clapped as his playing partners were introduced to fans before their opening shots. It is uncommon, if not unheard-of, for professional golfers to applaud their competitors before a round, especially at the game’s elite level.But part of the winsome, budding Theegala phenomenon enveloping the PGA Tour this season is tied to his authenticity. He still lives at home with his parents, who emigrated from India in their 20s. Until he flew to Florida this week, he spent the previous few weeks driving his 2015 Volkswagen Passat 2,000 miles up and down California and then to Arizona to play in five tour events and never missed the cut in any tournament. In the Phoenix event, he was tied for the lead in the final round with two holes remaining before a bad bounce on a sterling tee shot cost him dearly and dropped him into a tie for third.If that gutsy performance for a tour rookie had not already won over many golf fans, a video posted on Twitter shortly after the event that showed Theegala crying on his mother Karuna’s shoulders earned him more admirers.The 6-foot-3 Theegala also has scoliosis, which causes what he called, “a pretty big bend to the right.” That would explain his somewhat unorthodox swing. The condition does not cause Theegala pain. “I just can’t move in certain ways,” he said.As a child learning golf on a dusty substandard municipal course near his home in Southern California, Theegala adapted his putting stroke by tilting his head to the right so he could see the appropriate line from the ball to hole. The profile of his distinctive stance on a putting green still stands out from 100 yards away.It explains why Theegala, a former junior champion and the winner of three college golfer of the year awards at Pepperdine, had a decent-sized gallery following him during Thursday’s first round. Theegala had an eventful day with three birdies and four bogeys as fans shouted his first name as encouragement, even if they often did not pronounce it correctly.It is “SAW-hith” — the second syllable rhymes with “pith.” Theegala understands the confusion. Besides, it has its advantages. He can always tell where his close friends and family members are in tournament crowds because they shout his name correctly.In a short amount of time on the tour, he has climbed to 42nd in the season-long FedEx Cup rankings. He is long off the tee — he regularly out-drove his playing partners Russell Henley and Troy Merritt on Thursday — and his short game has a mix of finesse and ingenuity defined with one word: touch.Every golfer, longs to have touch.For his part, Theegala finds the newfound attention he is receiving enjoyable, albeit amusing.“I’m an introvert by nature,” he said with a smile as he walked from the practice range after Thursday’s round.That trait is not paradoxical to Theegala, who performs before thousands standing nearby and many more watching on television.“You hear about the best performers in the world — singers and dancers — who are really big introverts,” he said. “But it’s different when you get on the stage. When I’m in the act of playing golf, I don’t even think about the people watching.”Theegala is aware, however, that as an Indian American he is viewed differently in a sport that has never made it easy for nonwhite players to ascend to the highest professional level.“I’m definitely proud of my Indian heritage and I hope I’m inspiring other Indian Americans and people in India to know that they can compete in sports,” he said. “It’s obviously not the main purpose of being out there but it’s an ancillary effect of what we’re doing and I’m all for it.“I do believe the landscape is changing.”Theegala smiled. His three-putt on the final hole already seemed like a distant memory. For such a vexing game, he is routinely sedate on the golf course.“Yeah, obviously, it helps that I’ve been playing the best golf of my life in the last six or seven months,” he said with a laugh. “That always helps, right? I don’t want to be too hard on myself.” More