Sahith Theegala was 90% sure he moved just ‘a few grains of sand.’
That’s all it took.
It was enough to call a two-stroke penalty on himself in the middle of the Tour Championship with the $25 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup playoff finale on the line. Theegala will sleep better for it.
Theegala called the penalty, which resulted in a double bogey six, on the par-4 third hole at East Lake Golf Club. At the home course of the famed Bobby Jones, it was reminiscent of a self-imposed penalty that cost Jones a U.S. Open championship.
After the round, in which Theegala stands at 17-under par and nine shots back of leader Scottie Scheffler, video was scoured of the critical moment. There was no clear evidence that he did or did not move sand while hitting from a fairway bunker. In his heart, Theegala knew.
“Right on my backswing I felt like I moved a few grains of sand for sure,” Theegala said. “In my peripheral, I thought I saw some of the sand move as I took my backswing.”
After first consulting with playing partner Xander Schauffele, Theegala didn’t think it was a big deal. The moving sand didn’t change the lie. There was no intent to improve the lie. He was happy with the lie, in fact. He delivered a fine shot onto the green.
All of that didn’t matter.
Sure, he would sleep better if there was clear video evidence of the infraction. But he will still sleep better knowing he made the right call in his heart and is still playing rather than being disqualified. He immediately called over a rules official.
“The rule is it doesn’t matter the intent,” Theegala said. “If you change the lie in the direct area around the ball that could affect your swing, it is a two-shot penalty. … You kind of just trust your intuition and gut, and right away I thought I moved some sand there. I’m in the 90s percent that I thought I moved some sand.”
So instead of being 19 under, Theegala is 17 under. As he said, he took it on the chin and kept rolling. And did he ever.
Theegala, playing in the second-to-last group, had gotten to 12-under par after a birdie at the second hole. Then came the disaster on the third. After parring in on the front nine, thanks to a big putt on the fourth hole immediately after the incident, Theegala went on a roll.
His back-nine card looked like this: par, birdie, birdie, bogey, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie and birdie. That’s a score of 30 for a round of 66.
“It was tough,” Theegala said. “I got very upset. I don’t know if the cameras saw that, but I chucked my water bottle. Just in the moment. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Tough to not get upset about that. I made a huge par on four. Thought that saved my round.”
It’s not the first time Theegala has called a penalty on himself. He searched his memory bank and recalled once as a young player when he clipped a branch on a back swing that caused it to fall. That’s also a two-stroke penalty.
At the 1925 U.S. Open, Jones called a two-stroke penalty on himself when he insisted that he touched grass behind his ball that caused it to moved. It may have gone unnoticed to all around, but not to Jones.
After regulation play, due to the penalty, Jones was tied with Willie Macfarlane. He lost the 18-hole playoff.
When congratulated for showing such integrity, Jones famously said, “You might as well congratulate me for not robbing a bank.”
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