Sahith Theegala had himself an incredible week at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. The budding star finished in third in the FedEx Cup, and he had the second-lowest 72-hole total in the golf played at East Lake Golf Club. By any account, it was a huge success.
However, the week could have been ever better -- to the tune of $2.5 million more in earnings -- were it not for a few grains of sand and Theegala noticing something about them that only he could see.
On Saturday, Theegala was playing the third hole at East Lake and found himself in a fairway bunker, close to the face of it. Theegala walked into the bunker to prepare to hit the shot and took his stance. Under the Rules of Golf, a player can't ground their club into the sand on a bunker while their ball is in it. That's considering "testing the surface" and giving an unfair advantage, so that's why golfers hover their club just above the surface of the sand before hitting a bunker shot.
Theegala addressed the ball with his club and hit the shot. The ball landed just off the green, and then he got up-and-down with a chip and a putt to make a par 4. However, something didn't feel right.
"So it was an unusual lie, and I usually pick up the club and take it back, but because of the lie, right on my backswing I felt like I moved a few grains of sand for sure," Theegala said Saturday. "In my peripheral, I thought I saw some of the sand move as I took my backswing.
"Immediately after I hit it -- great contact, great shot -- I talked to Xander about it. I was like, Hey, dude, I think I moved some sand while I hit that shot, and we thought that it was no big deal because there was no intent, didn't feel like -- it didn't actually change the lie at all."
Theegala knew he had grazed the sand, ever so slightly, with his club in the backswing. That's against the Rules of Golf. He tracked down a PGA Tour rules official and apprised them of the situation. The Tour went back and looked at the video evidence to confirm Theegala's suspicion. While the video wasn't particularly conclusive, Theegala was certain of what he had done -- even if he hadn't intended to do it and that it didn't materially impact the shot he hit.
"But unfortunately 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."
In the end, those two strokes were meaningful.
They were the difference between him winning and losing the 72-hole competition, as Collin Morikawa beat him by a stroke (262 to 263) in the four rounds of golf played at East Lake. That cost Theegala 20 Official World Golf Ranking points for finishing second instead of first.
They were also the difference between Morikawa and Theegala tying in the Tour Championship competition, which included assigned starting strokes based on the FedEx Cup points standings through the BMW Championship. The difference between a two-way tie for second and solo third place was $2.5 million -- $10 million compared to $7.5 million.
Still, there's no doubt that Theegala did the right thing in being honest about something seemingly only he could see. He still played great, and he won himself a whole lot more fans.
"I'm pretty sure I breached the rules, so I'm paying the price for it," he said, "and I feel good about it."
