Sahith Theegala

Exempt status

• PGA TOUR: Top 50 from 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour (thru 2021-22)

JOINED TOUR

• PGA TOUR: 2022

Personal

• Graduated from Diamond Bar High School in Diamond Bar, California, in 2015, the same school that produced the PGA TOUR's Kevin Na (2001). Other notable alums from the school include Major League Baseball's Jim Edmonds, soccer's Alex Morgan and the NBA's Keith Van Horn.
• Says he enjoys golf because "the mental toughness needed to play this sport at a high level is unbelievable, and it requires your attention all the time. Although it may not necessarily require the most physical ability, it is by far the hardest sport I have ever played."
• Is a big fan of the Ranger's Apprentice series of books. Likes to watch American Ninja Warrior, and listens to RL Grime and Flume.

Special Interests

• Basketball, chess, fantasy football

CURRENT YEAR HIGHLIGHTS

• WM Phoenix Open: Playing on a sponsor exemption, held the solo-lead after the second and third rounds of the WM Phoenix Open before finishing T3, his first top-five on TOUR. Fell to 0-for-2 with the 36-hole lead/co-lead and 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR.
• Sanderson Farms Championship: Held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds of the Sanderson Farms Championship before recording a 1-under 71 to finish T8, three strokes behind winner Sam Burns. Marked first top-10 on the PGA TOUR in his 15th career start.

Career Highlights

2022 Season

• WM Phoenix Open: Playing on a sponsor exemption, held the solo-lead after the second and third rounds of the WM Phoenix Open before finishing T3, his first top-five on TOUR. Fell to 0-for-2 with the 36-hole lead/co-lead and 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR.
• Sanderson Farms Championship: Held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds of the Sanderson Farms Championship before recording a 1-under 71 to finish T8, three strokes behind winner Sam Burns. Marked first top-10 on the PGA TOUR in his 15th career start.

2021 Season

As a non-member, saw action in eight regular season events (all in 2021) during the combined 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour season as he also made seven PGA TOUR starts and finished inside the top 200 of the TOUR's non-member FedExCup points list, qualifying him for the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where he earned his first PGA TOUR card after a T4 at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship and solo sixth at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Finished No. 8 on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals points list and earned PGA TOUR membership for the 2021-22 season.

• Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance: Fired weekend rounds of 68-67 to finish sixth at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance while securing his first PGA TOUR card in the process through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
• Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship: Fired consecutive 5-under 66s on the weekend and made five birdies on the back nine of his final round, eventually totaling a 14-under 270 and finishing T4 at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.
• MGM Resorts Championship at Paiute: After Monday qualifying, earned the first top-10 of his career with a T9 finish at 8-under.

2020 Season

Played in four PGA TOUR events as a non-member, making one cut.

Amateur Highlights

• Won a college tournament for the first time, forging a five-shot lead at the 2017 Southwestern Invitational with 18 holes to play and overcoming a final-round 74 to defeat SMU’s Alex Higgs by a stroke in Westlake Village, California.
• At Lakeside GC, won the Southern California Golf Association Amateur in July 2019 in dominating fashion. Rounds of 68-67-65-65 resulted in an eight-shot rout of Trip Morris. Won the prestigious Sahalee Players Championship in 2017, finishing regulation tied with Australia’s Min Woo Lee and then defeating Lee in a sudden-death playoff.
• Captured his third collegiate title, winning 2019 Alister MacKenzie Invitational in Fairfax, California. Defeated Harrison Kinglsey and Sean Yu by a shot in early-October.
• Won his fourth and final college tournament, the Southwestern Invitational, in January 2020, backing up his 2017 title at the same event. Edged USC’s Leon D’Souza by a shot by shooting a final-round 66 to break free from a tie with D’Souza when the day began. Two weeks earlier, traveled to Victoria, Australia, for the Australian Master of the Amateurs, opened 66-68-69 to take a six-shot advantage into the final round. Despite shooting a 75 during difficult scoring conditions at Victoria GC still coasted to a four-stroke triumph over South Korea’s Jang Hyun Lee. Was one of only three Americans in the field.
• Reached as high as No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Won the 2020 Haskins Award, the Jack Nicklaus Award and the Ben Hogan Award representative of college golf’s top player. Became only the fifth player since the creation of all three awards to sweep collegiate golf’s Player of the Year honors.
• Represented the U.S. at the 2018 Palmer Cup in Évian-les-Bains, France. At Evian Resort GC, in the U.S. victory, went 1-3-0 in his four matches, his win coming in four-ball with Justin Suh his partner.
• Made his PGA TOUR debut, at the 2017 Genesis Open. Finished T49 at Riviera CC.