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USA Today
15-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
For instilling honesty, integrity, Sahith Theegala's dad is Golfweek's Father of the Year
For instilling honesty, integrity, Sahith Theegala's dad is Golfweek's Father of the Year Sahith Theegala never forgot the lesson he learned from his father, Muralidhar, about cheating. Playing in a junior golf tournament at the tender age of 7 or 8, Sahith broke one of golf's cardinal rules, intentionally moving his ball out of a divot. When he told Murli, as most call him, his father's ever-present smile turned upside down and a lecture commenced. 'What do you expect to gain from cheating?' Murli said. 'You're doing yourself an injustice. Sure, your result is going to be better but it's temporary. You're not achieving anything.' Unknowingly, he paraphrased one of golf's famous sayings on the subject, uttered long ago by the great Bobby Jones: "When you cheat in golf, the only person you're cheating is yourself." Fast forward roughly 20 years later and there's proof that Murli's lesson left an indelible impression. In August, during the third round of the 2024 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, Sahith reported a penalty on himself at the third hole, immediately calling over playing partner Xander Schauffele and notifying a rules official that he believed he may have touched a grain of sand in a bunker on his backswing. A grain of sand! Not even video could determine conclusively whether he had grazed the sand, but he was docked two strokes, which eventually cost him $2.5 million in prize money. 'I feel good about it,' Theegala said after the round. $2.5 million! When pressed on the matter, Theegala said, 'I wouldn't be able to sleep [if I didn't call the penalty].' 'That's him,' said his mother, Karuna, and his longtime golf coach Rick Hunter added that the way he handled the infraction was 'a reflection of the kind of person he is.' Not to mention a reflection of his upbringing. On Saturday, Murli, 60, was honored as the 2025 Golfweek Father of the Year at an awards luncheon at Cabot Citrus Farms in Brooksville, Florida, as part of the Golfweek Father-Son Championship. It's an honor that dates to 1983 and its recipients include Jack Nicklaus, Earl Woods and, most recently, Ernie Els. Murli is an American success story and laid the foundation for Sahith to pursue his passion for golf. After graduating from Indian Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering, Murli packed his bags in 1987 and with little more than the money necessary to buy his plane ticket became the first in his family to move to the U.S. and seek a master's degree in industrial engineering at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. After graduating, he bought a brown Dodge Aries with approximately 130,000 miles for $600 and drove to California to forge his own path. More: Making a difference for autism, Ernie Els is Golfweek's 2024 Father of the Year But first, he went home to India to marry Karuna. It was a traditional Indian arranged marriage, and not long after Sahith was born in 1997, the same year that the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Kobe Bryant in a trade and Tiger Woods said, 'Hello, world.' Through trial and error and a little bit of luck, Murli and Karuna figured out how to strike the right balance in blending their familial heritage in raising Sahith and his younger brother, Sahan, while allowing them to assimilate into American culture. Murli watched his twin sporting interests – the NBA and the PGA Tour – religiously, and as soon as he could afford a home in Chino Hills, in the southwestern corner of San Bernardino County, he bought Sahith a basketball hoop, followed by a set of plastic clubs when he was 3 or 4. Hunter gave Sahith his first lesson at El Prado Golf Course in Chino Hills at age six and instantly realized that his new pupil had a gift. 'He was born to do this,' Hunter said. 'This was part of his purpose in life.' By the time Sahith was 10, he had won his age group at the prestigious Junior World Golf Championships three times. 'The first time he won the Junior World, then I knew this kid is special and I need to do whatever it takes from my side to help him out,' he said. That included sacrificing his career. Murli gave up a higher-paying job because of its 3-hour round-trip daily commute. By the time he got home every night, he was exhausted. Earning a healthy wage could pay for a certain lifestyle, but was it worth it? By the time he got back, it was time to pick up Sahith at the golf course. He was missing what mattered most. So, Murli took a pay cut, accepting a government position with a shorter commute that allowed him to leave work regularly by 4 p.m. 'A lot of his friends and family were like, 'What the heck are you doing?' People would say he might be a little delusional, but early on, he believed I was a special athlete and my mom was crazy enough to go along with it,' Sahith said. Less pay but more time with his boys – that was priceless. 'On more than one occasion, Murli told me he passed up a promotion because he didn't want to be stuck in the office,' Hunter said. Growing up in India, Murli's studies were the priority. His father, a prominent cop in the community, never allowed Murli to play organized sports, and at first, the patriarch of the family didn't understand his son's vision for golf and struggled to accept the time commitment Murli devoted to it over his studies. That is, until he attended a California Kids Golf tournament when Sahith was 10 and watched him win. From the moment Sahith handed him his winner's trophy, his grandfather became his hype man and biggest supporter. 'He always asked me about my golf,' Sahith said. 'He was the only family member back in India that did that at that early of an age.' Murli believed that Sahith could succeed both academically and in athletics. [While Sahith took to golf Sahan, six years younger, is a pre-med student at Seton Hall University.] El Prado, where Sahith practiced and played, is a hardscrabble municipal course where Hunter's students took pride in their ability to play from scruffy lies. Murli developed a strategy of taking Sahith to tournaments all over Southern California – from San Diego to the Desert to the Valley – at an alphabet soup of junior circuits. It made economic sense as many of those events were held at private clubs that Sahith couldn't otherwise play or high-end daily fee courses for a fraction of their rack rate. They'd show up early for practice rounds and they'd stay late so Sahith could hit range balls to his delight and putt on smooth, well-manicured greens. 'I got way better doing that,' he said. 'And I loved it because I'm a golf addict.' Good enough to earn a golf scholarship to Pepperdine University. Good enough to be named college golf's Ben Hogan and Fred Haskins Award winner as the top male collegian. And good enough to graduate to the PGA Tour via the Korn Ferry Tour after turning pro in 2020. Murli and Karuna flew in for Sahith's card ceremony at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, a day Sahith calls the most emotional of his career. Of course, they were both there to see their pride and joy win the 2023 ProCore Championship at Silverado Resort in Napa. All those years after Murli scraped together his savings to buy a used car to get to California, Sahith bought him a new car with some of his winnings. Otherwise, Murli has refused just about everything else Sahith has offered him, other than a wallet. Murli retired a year ago and Sahith has never seen him happier. He attends around 15 of Sahith's PGA Tour tournaments a year and brings the energy of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad to the golf course. At the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, Murli predicted Sahith would hole his third shot for birdie, and lo and behold, he did just that. Murli danced around celebrating his son's achievement and whipping the gallery around him into a frenzy. Thanks to his appearance in the first season of Netflix's 'Full Swing' documentary on the PGA Tour, he has developed a cult following, signing autographs and posing for pictures, a permanent smile fixed upon his face. Murli's affable, outgoing nature makes him easy to like, but why has he emerged as arguably the most beloved parent of a Tour pro? 'He doesn't really care about societal norms,' Sahith said. 'He's an extrovert, loves to entertain and is just really into being himself. At the end of the day, he's just a golf nut who loves being out here with his friends.' But what makes Murli really light up? When fans and volunteers stop him to say that Sahith treated them like a perfect gentleman. 'He cares a lot more about that than my actual golf results,' Sahith said. And so when Sahith called the penalty stroke on himself at the Tour Championship, Murli and Karuna weren't surprised that their son did the right thing. 'They didn't say much, which I think speaks to why they didn't have to,' Sahith said. 'If it was the other way around, they would have disowned me.' That it happened at East Lake, where Bobby Jones had grown up and learned the game, felt like history repeating itself. At the 1925 U.S. Open, Jones had called a similar penalty on himself that no one else had seen, a violation of Rule 18, 'moving a ball at rest after address,' and would hear no reasoning to the contrary. When a reporter congratulated him on his honesty, Jones admonished the reporter, saying, 'You might as well praise me for not robbing a bank.' While that sentiment still holds true for Sahith's decision to self-report, it speaks volumes of good parenting and reason enough to shower praise on Murli and Karuna and their version of the American dream.
USA Today
03-05-2025
- Climate
- USA Today
All 2s, 3s and 4s as Scottie Scheffler opens big lead at 2025 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
All 2s, 3s and 4s as Scottie Scheffler opens big lead at 2025 CJ Cup Byron Nelson A 6 hour, 15 minute weather delay couldn't derail Scottie Scheffler. Leading by two after a first-round 61 on Thursday at TPC Craig Ranch, Scheffler, the world No. 1 seeking his first win in 2025, has expanded that lead to six shots after his Friday second round in his hometown event in McKinney, Texas, near Dallas. Scheffler played the back nine first Friday at the 2025 CJ Cup Byron Nelson and opened with eight straight pars before eagling the 18th hole, which came right before the horn calling for the weather delay. Upon his return to the golf course, he then birdied six of his last nine holes to sign for a 8-under 63 and walk off the course with a six-shot lead on Sam Stevens, who has posted back-to-back 65s. Through 36 holes, Scheffler has three 2s, 14 3s and 19 4s but not a single 5 or higher. Put another way, Scheffler has two eagles, 14 birdies and 20 pars on his scorecards so far. On the holes that make up the front nine he's birdied each of them over the first two days. Scheffler has 13 PGA Tour wins, with six of them coming in signature events. His most recent victory came in the 2024 Tour Championship last August. This season he has five top-10s and three top-5s including a runner-up in eight starts but he's yet to find the winner's circle. This might be the week he hoists a trophy once again, in an event he says he loves playing. Weather delay means cut won't come till Saturday The lengthy postponement for rain and lightning meant half the field of 156 didn't even start its second round till late in the day Friday. The final groups to head out weren't scheduled to start until 7:54 p.m. local time (8:54 p.m. ET), leaving only enough daylight for a couple of holes. The early projected cutline was 4 under, with Ben An, Chris Gotterup, Ben Griffin, Cam Davis and Joel Dahmen all with plenty of work to do on what's to be a long day on Saturday.
South Wales Argus
21-04-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Gwent's Mark Williams named top performer of 2024
Three-time world champion Williams only made it to the last 32 at the Crucible this year, but he did win the 2024 Tour Championship, the 2023 Macau Masters and the 2023 British Open, as well as reaching the final of the 2023 Championship League. 'I think Mark Williams has been putting in more good performances than any player,' said seven-time world champion O'Sullivan. 'I'm either good or bad, but Mark Williams is just consistent. Any snooker player would tell you, you just want that. If you've got that, you've got it. All that up and down business is no good to nobody. 'Mark Williams is not throwing the kitchen sink at it; he's just turning up, hitting balls. He's focused and he's fancying clearing up before he's even potted a ball.' Williams made it through to the second of this year's Championship League as the 2024-2025 snooker season kicked off in Leicester this week. Michael White became the fourth Welshman to reach the last 32 of the tournament by topping Group 23 on seven points at the season's first ranking event. After compatriots Williams, Ryan Day and Matthew Stevens reached the second phase of the season's first ranking event, White showed his quality to edge out former UK champion Stephen Maguire with a 2-2 draw. White hit breaks of 122 and 94 in a 3-0 win over Ryan Davies before completing a 3-0 win over Dean Young boosted by knocks of 83, 74 and 98. Needing a point to progress against Maguire, White compiled a 59 in the second frame to move 2-0 clear with the Scotsman running in 111 and 54 of his own to finish third in the section, a point behind runner-up Davies and two adrift of White. Elsewhere on Thursday, local favourite Joe O'Connor also advanced by winning Group 22 courtesy of a win over Oliver Lines (3-1) and two draws with Harvey Chandler (2-2) and Aaron Hill (2-2) respectively. O'Connor's 130 break in his 2-2 draw with Chandler was key to edging out Irishman Hill after the leading duo finished on identical records on five points from three fixtures. Stage one at the Mattioli Arena consists of 32 groups of four players before the 32 group winners split into eight further groups. The eight group winners contest a further two groups with the winners meeting in the final. There is £33,000 on the table for the winner plus a spot in the Champion of Champions later in the year which is worth another £12,500 for qualifying.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
YouTube is presenting sponsor of PGA Tour's Creator Classic Series, beginning at The Players
YouTube will be the presenting sponsor for the PGA Tour's Creator Classic Series, which will begin a three-tournament schedule on March 12 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the day before the first round of The Players Championship. The nine-hole events, which began at the 2024 Tour Championship at East Lake, features YouTube golf "content creators," who have gained in popularity with the video presentations of their love of golf and their journeys within the game. The Creator Classic at The Players will begin at 4:15 p.m. at the 10th tee of the Stadium Course, with personalities such as the Bryan Brothers, "Fat Perez" from Bob Does Sports, Gabby Golf Girl, Roger Steele, Grant Horvat, Kyle Berkshire, Tisha Alyn, Soly from No Laying Up, and a Barstool personality who will be determined via qualifier. Each Creator Classic event will be streamed on the PGA Tour's YouTube channel and several other platforms. Additional Creator Classics will be held at the Philly Cricket Club on May 7 before the Truist Championship and then at East Lake on Aug. 20, the day before the FedEx Cup Championship begins at East Lake. The Creator Classic is open to any Wednesday ticket holders at The Players. The 2024 Creator Classic featured 16 YouTube creators and had more than 2.7 million views. It was the No. 2 trending video after the competition and engaged more than 60 million viewers across all social media platforms during a four-week period. Pro Shop Studios, the entertainment division of Pro Shop and the production company behind the Netflix hit series 'Full Swing' and 'Happy Gilmore 2,' will partner with PGA Tour Studios to run on-ground and broadcast production. In addition to the Tour's YouTube channel, the competitions will be streamed live channel on Golf Channel, ESPN+, the PGA Tour channel on Pluto TV, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, Prime Video, Fire TV, Tubi, Xumo Play and LG Channels. This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: YouTube, PGA Tour partner in three-tournament Creator Classic series
