MALIBU, Calif. – Sahith Theegala, a 2020 graduate of the Pepperdine men's golf team, had one of his best rounds ever on golf's biggest stage. His Masters debut was capped off with shooting a 67 on Sunday to propel him into ninth place for the tournament.
Theegala's ninth-place finish at Augusta National is his best-ever finish at a major tournament. He had previously missed the cut in the 2017 and 2021 U.S. Opens and finished tied for 34
th in the 2022 Open Championship before the 2023 Masters.
The 25-year-old not only put together a sensational Sunday, but had arguably the shot of the weekend. The former Pepperdine star wowed the Augusta National crowd with an extraordinary chip from 24-yards out on the par 3 16
th hole. The golf world immediately thought of Tiger Woods' famous Masters chip when he took home the green jacket in 2005. Theegala himself was no exception in remembering the history that had just been recreated after his Tiger-esque shot.
"Oh, my God. You should have seen how many people said, 'Do it for Tiger, Tiger chip-in,' and all that stuff when I was over there," said Theegala when asked about the shot in his Masters press conference.
"But yes, I can't wait to watch the replay because I don't know what I did. I don't even know the angle the ball took. I was just blacked out when I hit the chip because I was just so happy to get it on the green…it was just madness when it went in."
This Masters finish marks Theegala's sixth top-ten finish of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season. He is currently the No. 30 player in the World Golf Ranking.
"It's just another step forward," said Theegala after his round on Sunday. "There's going to be a lot of steps back, but this is just a big step forward for me in terms of confidence because I feel like my game is getting better and better and that's all I am focused on right now."
Due to finishing at least top-12 at the 2023 Masters, Theegala punches his automatic ticket to the 2024 Masters.
"Hopefully I keep playing well enough that I stay in the top 50 or qualify in some other way, but you can never take anything for granted, so it's nice…really, really cool to know that I have it on the schedule next year," he said after his ninth-place finish.
While at Pepperdine, Theegala garnered Pepperdine's first-ever National Player of the Year accolade and third three-time All-American honoree. In his final season with the Waves, he won the Fred Haskins Award, Ben Hogan Award and Jack Nicklaus award, sweeping all major National Player of the Year honors.
In four playing seasons over five years, he ended with the best scoring average (70.61) in Pepperdine history, also setting the Pepperdine career record for below-par rounds (74). He tied the records for wins (four) and top-20 finishes (36) and finished sixth in top-10 finishes with 19. He played in 46 career tournaments and 134 rounds, earning All-Region honors four times and All-WCC first team acclaim three times.
The Waves are currently in first-place at the 76
th Western Intercollegiate. Live coverage will continue on Golf Channel from 1-4 p.m.
