PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sahith Theegala delivered an impressive opening round at The Players Championship on Thursday, shooting a 5-under 67 to move into a share of the lead before play was suspended because of darkness.
Theegala joined Maverick McNealy, Lee Hodges, Sepp Straka and Austin Smotherman atop the leaderboard at 5-under. Smotherman had one hole remaining when play was halted.
The 28-year-old American, who dealt with injuries last season, started strong with three consecutive birdies on the front nine. His only stumble came at the ninth hole, where he dropped a shot after finding trouble in a bunker.
The highlight of his round came at the par-4 12th, where he holed out from 99 yards for eagle. He added another birdie at the 16th to finish the day tied for the lead.
Reflecting on the eagle, Theegala said, “I had 99 yards. That pin is on that little shelf, so usually it’s just a stock lob wedge, but I hit a little 54 degree to try and just one-hop it up the slope there, and I blocked it a hair. I hit it a little skinny and just came out a little right. Got a nice bounce. So for it to crash into the pin and go in is pretty cool. It’s a nice bonus.”
Speaking about returning from injury, Theegala said regaining confidence and speed in his swing took time.
“So, yeah, it was nice to start this year healthy. I was healthy in the fall, but my speed took forever to come back and guys were just telling me to stay patient, guys that had left shoulder and left oblique injuries or rib injuries. They said the speed just takes a while to come back. Your body just doesn’t trust it until it’s way outside the injury,” he said.
Theegala, who briefly dropped outside the top 100 in the rankings, has recorded three top-10 finishes this season.
Among other players of Indian origin in the field, Akshay Bhatia — coming off a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week — finished the round at 1-under 71, placing him tied for 30th.
Sudarshan Yellamaraju was 1-over through 17 holes and sat around tied for 52nd when play was suspended. Aaron Rai posted a 2-over 74 and was tied for 69th.
Bhatia opened his round with two birdies but ran into trouble with a double bogey on the 14th hole. After a birdie-bogey-birdie stretch, he completed the back nine at 1-under and then recorded nine straight pars on the front nine.
The young American has also confirmed he plans to compete in the Hero Indian Open later this month, despite never having played in India before.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler finished with an even-par round and was tied for 40th, while second-ranked Rory McIlroy struggled to a 2-over 74, leaving him tied for 69th.
Tommy Fleetwood opened with a solid 3-under 69, putting him tied for 10th.
Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa withdrew from the tournament because of injury after completing just one hole of his round. (Source: IANS)
