SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Sahith Theegala is on what he termed “a free roll” this week at the WM Phoenix Open and he kept the good times rolling on Friday, shooting 7-under 64 at TPC Scottsdale to claim at 2-stroke lead over Brooks Koepka at the tournament’s midway point.
Theegala, a 24-year-old rookie, received one of five sponsor invitations from The Thunderbirds. The last player to win a PGA Tour event in Arizona on a sponsor exemption? None other than Phil Mickelson in 1991 in Tucson.
As Theegala came out of scoring, he slapped hands with his father, who has put over 2,000 miles in his car in the last month following his son compete on the West Coast Swing. Among the rowdy fans at TPC Scottsdale, Theelgala has plenty of family members that made the trip from Los Angeles to lend support.
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“It’s my parents, a couple of my uncles, probably three of my uncles this week, and then my cousin’s parents,” he said. “There’s eight of them, I think. There was another cousin that came yesterday.”
He gave them plenty to cheer about on Friday. Theegala had to rise early to finish his first round after play was suspended due to darkness. He was 7 under at the time but made bogey on his final two holes to finish at 5-under 66. Theegala’s tournament could have gone south in a hurry, but he said the 40-minute break between rounds was an important re-set. He righted the ship with four birdies in his first five holes, including wedging inside 4 feet at the second. A bogey at No. 8 was his lone hiccup of the round, but he bounced back with four birdies in his final six holes.
In all, Theegala has recorded 15 birdies, tying Tommy Gainey in 2011 for the most birdies through 36 holes by a player in his debut at TPC Scottsdale.
Theegala’s score of 12-under 130 is a career best 36-hole start and makes him the youngest leader or co-leader at the midway point of the tournament since Kevin Na in 2005 (age 21).
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Theegala is crashing the party in the Valley of the Sun. He had a distinguished college career, but has one top-10 finish in 24 career starts on the PGA Tour – at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October – whereas his three closest competitors are among the top-ranked players in the game.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka, a four-time major winner, posted 5-under 66, his fifth straight round of 66 or better dating to last year and the best 36-hole position for a defending champ at TPC Scottsdale since Steve Jones in 1998. Koepka trails by two strokes but is pleased to be in the trophy hunt for a potential third title at a tournament he’s grown to love.
“I like the noise, I like the chaos, whatever you want to call it. That’s fun for me,” he said. “But, yeah, being two back, I played pretty solid, I feel like I haven’t made many mistakes so if I can keep doing that the rest of the weekend I’ll be just fine.”
Schauffele, the Olympic gold medalist who tied for second at last year’s WM Phoenix Open, shot a bogey-free 65 to share second with Koepka. He’s playing this week without regular caddie Austin Kaiser, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week.
“Austin’s starting to feel a little bit better,” he said. “I get the excitement of waking up and testing every morning, so, so far so good. Tomorrow’s my last day I have to test for the contact tracing, so fingers crossed.”
Cantlay, 29, shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 and leads the field in putting this week as he continued his torrid run. The reigning FedEx Cup champion, who is making his tournament debut in the desert this week, is 125 under in his last 28 Tour rounds, with 26 of them in the 60s.
“I’m playing really well right now, my body feels good and I’m hitting it where I’m looking and making some putts,” Cantlay said. “It’s fun to be out here.”
Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, a former two-time champion in the desert, is lurking after a pair of 68s at 6 under while World No. 1 Jon Rahm and former PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas are a shot further back after settling for 70s and will need to go low over the weekend.
Sixty-seven players shot 2-under 140 or better to make the 36-hole cut. Among the players with the weekend off include Rickie Fowler (71-70—141), Tony Finau (74-68—142), Daniel Berger (73-70—143), and World No. 3 Viktor Hovland (72-72—144).
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Theegala said he’s ready to embrace his potential big break this weekend. That includes a final-group pairing on Saturday with Koepka, who recalled playing a few practice-round holes with Theegala once at Torrey Pines.
“I remember he struck it beautifully,” Koepka said. “I remember just the sound of it when it comes off, it was pretty good.”
It’s been better than good, so far. Which is all the more impressive given that had Theegala not been the beneficiary of a sponsor invite, he’d be chilling at home at his parent’s place in Los Angeles. Yes, that’s right. Theegala might be the only Tour player still shacking up in his childhood home.
“I was thinking about moving out, but I graduated during COVID and it just didn’t really make sense for me,” explained the Pepperdine graduate.
When Theegala said he would be getting his own place in California sometime soon, a reporter noted that two more days like the first two and he likely could afford a pretty sweet pad.
“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see,” he said. “I don’t know about in California.”
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