Sahith Theegala hits his third shot on Saturday on the 18th hole at TPC Scottsdale.
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Whew, Sahith Theegala said. “Yeah, very draining, for sure,” he said. Multiple times, he hit into the desert. Twice, he said, his ball was stepped on. Twice, he said, it was also picked up by a fan. But when that wasn’t happening, Theegala was hitting fairways, hitting greens and rolling in putts. Somehow through all of it, he held onto the lead he brought into the day. Whew. Here are three things you need to know after Saturday’s third round of the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.
Sahith Theegala leads
Along with the desert shots, fan foot interference and fan hand interference for Theegala was also a disastrous double-bogey on the 2nd, where he drove into a bunker, hit the lip coming out, missed the green on his third shot and double-bogeyed the hole. But like with everything else on Saturday, it was not only draining. He wasn’t floored.
From there, Theegala played four-under golf, and he finished with a two-under 69, a 14-under and a one-shot lead. Trailing him are literally every big name in the sport.
Afterward, Theegala was asked how he was able to settle himself after the rocky start.
“Yeah, I mean I got to give a lot of credit to my caddie, Carl [Smith],” Theegala said. “I mean, it was real easy for me to get down there, and we had a discussion about a couple shots on 2, and he’s just like, Hey dude, you’re playing great, man, like just keep doing what you’re doing and have a good attitude. Like my attitude I feel like has been really great this week, and I just stuck to it.”
Brooks Koepka is one shot back
One shot back of Theegala is Brooks Koepka, last year’s champion, and two back are three U.S. Ryder Cup team members — Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler — and Talor Gooch, a winner last fall. Among the group three back are Hideki Matsuyama, last year’s Masters winner, and Tom Hoge, the winner last week at Pebble Beach.
Nine of Koepka’s 18 holes in a three-under 68 round were either birdies (six) or bogeys (three).
“I’m not right where I want to be — I would like to have the lead,” Koepka said. “But look, I’m playing solid, so just go out and go play a good round tomorrow and see what happens. Just need to keep putting it the way I did. I feel confident, I like where my game’s at, and we’ll see. Just be within a couple on the back nine.”
Sam Ryder makes electric hole in one
Nearly every player mentioned above could hear — or smell — Sam Ryder’s first shot on the par-3 16th. It dropped in the hole — then beer and liquor from some 20,000 fans dropped on the hole in one of the wildest celebrations you’ll ever see.
For about 15 minutes, volunteers picked up trash before Ryder finally plucked his ball from the cup.
“I’ve never seen a scene like that on a golf course before,” analyst Colt Knost said on the CBS broadcast. “Unbelievable.”
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