At long last, Theegala captures first PGA Tour win with dominant week at Fortinet Championship
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
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They say the first win is always the toughest one to get. It doesn’t matter what sport that first one can be tough to get.
But in the case of Sahith Theegala, the last three days at the Fortinet Championship have been a breeze.
On Sunday, Theegala finally got his first win on the PGA Tour of his career.
In the final round, Theegala shot a four-under 68 to finish the tournament at -21 under in his 74th career start on the tour.
“It doesn’t feel real. It’s probably not going to set in for a while,” Theegala said after the win. “But man, that was a lot of good golf, and that was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. I had so many family and friends cheering me on, and just the support I have is mind-blowing. I go to bed at night these last few days and I’m like, I can’t believe how many people are cheering for me and rooting for me.
“But man, this feeling is incredible, and I couldn’t have done it without my whole team and everyone out here,” he continued. “This is such a team effort, and for me to just put it together like this, it means the world, it means the world to me.”
He was able to get the job done after an up-and-down day. Though he shot 68 on the day, he had to battle through some adversity on the 6th hole where he was all over the place. He sent his second shot into the rough that followed a drive into the 9th fairway. After this, he punched his third shot out of the rough, leaving him a 34-foot putt. He then two-putted to save bogey on that hole.
Following this rough hole, he turned around and birdied the 8th hole.
The only other bogey in his round came on the 10th and then on the 18th hole to seal his victory after the tournament had been wrapped up.
“I didn’t do either, actually. I chunked it,” Theegala said of his rough sixth hole. “Both times, both times I hit in the fairway bunker today I needed to hit like a chippy hook and both times I just got under, I just got under and chunked it both times, so I just chunked it.
I saw it hit the tree softly and I was like, ‘Oh, boy, I hit it right behind that group of oaks there,,” he continued. “I got lucky, I had a little opening behind the trees and the bark.
“Yeah, just flat-out chunked it. And I knew right when I hit that tee shot on 6, I literally hit it right of the cart path maybe onto the other hole,” he added. “I was just really hoping it wasn’t in that bunker because it’s probably the bunker with the biggest lip on property. Yeah, I just chunked it. I was happy to walk away with 5 there.”
The 25-year-old from Orange, California began his round with a fast start, with birdies on holes 1, 3, and 4. He also birdied the 14th and 16th on the back nine.
For the tournament, he finished with an aggregate score of 267. The victory also gives him 500 FedExCup points. As the winner of the Fortinet Championship, he also takes home $1.512 Million and is now exempt on the tour for the next two seasons. He’s also punched his ticket to The Players Championship and the Sentry Tournament of Champions, along with the majors that invite tournament winners.
Another thing that helped Theegala in the event was the fact that he had over 40 family and friends cheering him on all four days at the North Course at Silverado Resort. His parents Muralidhar and Karuna Theegala were leading the big group of rooters that came from Southern California to see the win.
“You know, it’s so funny because I think for some reason, he said ‘I’m gonna play this Napa tournament because he said, I’m from California, why not, Dad? And I’m just gonna go and relax and play my game,’” Theegala’s father explained at the 18th green. “And I think I know the golf course. I know the Greens very well. And having the support, you know, from this, that is amazing. I think that’s amazing. Truly amazing.”
He’s also the second player to have the Fortinet Championship as their first win. In 2018, Kevin Tway won his first PGA Tour event.
Theegala was never challenged throughout the last round either. To begin the day, there were four other players within three shots of Theegala. The only one of those who was able to remain close to Theegala was S.H. Kim. He did this by getting hot on the back nine with birdies on 10, 15, 16, and 18 after being even through the front nine to finish with a 68 on the day.
“Yeah, it’s been a long week for me,” Kim said of his week in Napa. “I tried to mentally stay focused throughout the week. I’m happy with how things ended and look forward to the future.”
Finishing third was Cam Davis who shot a 70 in the final round of play. He had rough holes on the 4th and 11th where he bogeyed, to go along with the 8th which was a double bogey. He birdied 3 of the last 5 holes to finish the day under par as well. This included birdies on two of the final three at 16 and 18.
“It was an awesome week,” Davis explained. “I really enjoyed everything about this week actually. It was relaxing, I love being here, the weather was just about the best all year we had for a full week straight, I loved how firm and fast the course got. So I had a really enjoyable time. Just didn’t quite get off to a really good start today which kind of threw me so far off that I wasn’t really a contender anymore.
It was awesome to watch how well Sahith played today,” Davis added. “He did everything he needed to do to get the job done today.”
The PGA Tour’s Fall season will now take a break as the Ryder Cup will happen in Rome in two weeks’ time. The 2024 Fortinet Championship will take place September 9th-15th once again at Silverado Resort and Spa.
Fortinet Championship Awards Cybersecurity Scholarship for up to 50K
On Sunday afternoon in the circle outside of the Silverado Mansion, the Fortinet Championship awarded a scholarship up to $50,000 to Gavin Brazelton an Operations System Analyst at Silverado Resort and Spa.
Those on hand for this presentation were Jim Overbeck, SVP of Marketing Fortinet. Overbeck presented the check to Brazelton. This is the first year the tournament’s sponsor has presented this to an employee at Silverado Resort and Spa.
