MALIBU, California – Sahith Theegala has become the first Pepperdine men's golfer to win the Fred Haskins Award, which recognizes the nation's top college player. This is the 50th anniversary of the Haskins Award, and Theegala's win was announced on Golf Channel this afternoon.
Theegala (Chino Hills, Calif./Diamond Bar HS) helped the Waves reach their first-ever #1 regular-season ranking in program history this season. Pepperdine ended the shortened season ranked #1 in the Bushnell/Golfweek coaches poll and by Golfstat.
Theegala, a fifth-year senior, was the top-ranked player in the nation by both Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin when the season ended. He was named to All-American first teams by both the GCAA/PING and Golfweek. In eight tournaments this season, he won twice and posted a school-record 69.04 scoring average. He had six top-10s and was in the top-20 at all eight events. Seventeen of his 24 rounds were below-par.
"Words can't even begin to describe it, honestly, it still hasn't set in," Theegala told the Golf Channel during its live broadcast. "Just to think that my name belongs with some of the other names on the list like Tiger and Phil and the other greats is just incredible to think about. It's an incredible honor."
On the team's #1 ranking, he said: "This was our year. This wasn't just a one-year thing for Pepperdine. We built into this over a long time. A lot of our guys put in so much hard work. The coaches did their best to get us to this point ... The team was such a big reason why I had such a big year. Our team was just so competitive within ourselves, we never let ourselves get complacent and we were always keeping each other on our toes. So I attribute a large part of my individual success to the team pushing me and the coaches pushing me. That was honestly a really big part of why I played well this year."
Theegala holds Pepperdine career records for scoring average (70.61) and below-par rounds (74) and is tied for the #1 spot in top-20 finishes (36) and wins (four).
He's a three-time All-American (just the third in program history), a three-time All-West Coast Conference honoree and a four-time All-West Region selection.
