Sahith Theegala hits a tee shot earlier this month on the first gap at TPC Sawgrass.
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You can play this week’s PGA Tour course. You, sure, you, John and Jane Q. Golfer.
And that obtained Sahith Theegala pondering:
What are you doing subsequent Monday?
The 26-year-old burgeoning star was speaking Tuesday forward of this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, and the topic concerned Memorial Park Golf Course, his dwelling for the week — and the house to one of many nation’s finest munis each different week. It’s comparatively cheap, too, particularly if you dwell within the space, and a handful of Tour execs had been aware of the dynamic that any and all are welcome to tee it up in the identical stadium that the massive leaguers play.
Tony Finau, the event’s defending champ, cherished it. He mentioned he grew up enjoying a muni par-3 in Salt Lake City. He referred to as this week vital. Special.
Chandler Phillips, born about an hour north of Memorial, knew the deal for Houston residents — kind of. He was 5 bucks increased than the precise charge of $30. He referred to as the course unreal. Said it stands because the best-conditioned monitor he’ll play all yr.
Theegala, who’s just lately moved to the realm, mentioned it was nice. He grew up on public programs. Golf, he mentioned, must be accessible.
That all mentioned, muni golf doesn’t equate to mini golf. Memorial isn’t a cupcake.
The accessibility, it seems, has opened some eyes and raised some scores in Theegala’s circle.
“It’s cool,” he mentioned, “as a result of lots of the blokes that simply this week once I was training at Woodlands and Champions [two private Houston-area courses], lots of the blokes had been like, hey, we simply performed right here three weeks in the past, like this course is basically, actually exhausting. I used to be like yeah, that’s form of how it’s most weeks out right here.
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“Yeah, it is fun. It’s awesome that the week after this tournament that anyone can go out and play and see how hard the golf course is set up and the conditions that we play on. I think it’s important for the fans to see exactly what a PGA Tour test is.”
Here, Theegala had his thought:
How would a kind of followers fare? Say a scratch participant. Say a day after Sunday’s end. Keep the situations the identical.
This week, no country-club members would be bothered. You’d be holding it at Memorial, a public park.
“There’s got to be something like a fan challenge,” Theegala mentioned.
“… See what they would shoot just to put it into perspective how hard a PGA Tour golf course is. Because the media’s always funny. You look up, oh, he’s really struggling today, he’s even-par through 16. I’m like, I’m pretty happy with being even-par through 16 right now. It’s just the level of precedent that the top guys in the world like Scottie [Scheffler], Viktor [Hovland], they just make it look too easy sometimes.”
His factors are properly made.
This creator’s media brethren could be demanding, and Theegala’s colleagues are excellent.
Then once more, the very best on this planet shouldn’t be subpar, proper?
Then once more, you attempt hitting out of that cabbage or placing on that kitchen ground!
So right here we’re. Granted, it’s not a brand new thought. Having Joes and Janes go at it the place the massive girls and boys play has been executed earlier than, and you can in all probability guess the result.
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But Theegala’s watching.
Actually, he’d stick round.
“Shoot, I’d commentate on it so that they know precisely like — it’s so humorous as a result of you watch on TV — I’ve a pet peeve. Sometimes once I watch golf on TV, an amazing instance is gap 8 at Valspar final week. It’s a 230-yard par-3, the inexperienced’s 12 yards broad and somebody will hit the center of the inexperienced and, you know, they’ll be like, oh, actually sensible shot there.
“I’m like, properly, no, he’s completely laced this 4-iron in the midst of the inexperienced, that’s proper the place he’s wanting and to hit a 4-iron that straight is basically, actually exhausting. I believe commentators are getting loads higher about giving execs credit score for a few of their pictures.
“Yeah, even like chipping, lots of the stuff simply appears flat on TV, however then when you recover from the chip, like, oh, nice, I’ve to land it over a mound on a downslope down grain?
“Yeah, it would be attention-grabbing to see some form of format like that. I do know YouTube golf is taking off and there’s lots of actually good gamers on YouTube making nice content material. Sure, there’s some concepts like that. …
“Yeah, more stuff like that can only help the game because it brings more fans into the game and brings a slightly different crowd into the game. I’m all for it.”
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