MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 14, 2024

Sahith Theegala

Quick Quotes

Q. Just sum up the tournament for us.

SAHITH THEEGALA: I mean, it was a great tournament. It's fun that I got the full normal -- I shouldn't say normal, but firm and fast Augusta experience because last year it was very soft and cold and played really long. This year was total opposite. Played really short. Fairways were so firm. Greens were even firmer today. You could tell they watered it just to make it -- you still can hit it in every section of the green, but it was playing really, really great. I found out how not to play it for a lot of the last couple days, but still a great week, and I enjoyed the walk up 18. Second time going through it.

Yeah, just happy that I made it here and grateful that I even had the chance to walk up the green.

Q. Talk about your feelings last year versus this year.

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I was just so happy last year with how I played. I played great all week last year. The game felt -- my game feels better than it did last year. I just made so many mental mistakes. Just got a little antsy and tried to push things, and my short game was off. I putted probably four or five three-putts today. I know a lot of them were from the fringe, but just uncharacteristic.

But still a lot of the same feelings. Just happy to be here. Another year of experience now. Last year I felt like I didn't have much to look back on just from the practice rounds I had. But this year I looked at how I did last year, and hopefully I'm just going to build on it. Just going to build on it and try and work my way back here next year.

Q. Just a word about Akshay. Now we have two slices of India out here.

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, Akshay is great. I think I spoke about him earlier, just saying how mature he was. He's just turned 22, and it's like -- he'll give you the illusion that he's got it all figured it out. Nobody has it all figured out. But he's such a great player, and just an incredible talent, and I know he works hard at it.

But he's one of the best ball strikers I've ever seen. Now that he's got the broomstick working and I think he's working hard on his short game, he could be a force for a very, very long time. No doubt he's going to be top 10, top 5, and maybe even World No. 1 at some point. He's got that kind of skills off the tee, and his iron game -- his start lines are so precise. It's really impressive what he can do, and his distance control is really good, too. Just playing with him, it's like, I have a lot of room for improvement. It's funny looking at someone that's so much younger and saying they do these things a lot better than I do. He's going to have a bright future, and I think he's going to represent Indian-Americans very well.

Q. Of the next three majors, which courses have you played? I don't know if you have played Royal Troon or not.

SAHITH THEEGALA: No, I haven't played Valhalla, I haven't played Royal Troon. I have played Pinehurst. I played the U.S. Amateur. I played the U.S. Amateur in 2019. It was the hardest course I've ever played. It was so firm and fast. I shot 2-over and felt like I shot 6-under, and I think I was the fourth or fifth low round of the day. Only one person shot even par. I know that's going to be really hard and a test.

I heard Royal Troon is one of the best courses over there. I heard a lot of great things about that one, too. I'm sure I'll watch all kinds of old Royal Troon highlights.

Valhalla, the only thing I know is from the Ryder Cup and the 2014 PGA. Looks like a great course, too. Major championship golf is just so fun. It's hard, and I love hard golf. Definitely going to be looking forward to the next one.

Q. When Akshay speaks to you, does he ask you any questions?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, yeah, it's funny because he's been pro longer than I have. I don't even feel like I have anything to offer him. He has more pro experience than I do.

I played with him at PLAYERS and he missed the cut, but I played with him already five, six rounds, and I was like, dude, you're playing great. Honestly, I could have used better timing on when I said that because he had just missed the cut and he was upset. But he was striking it so, so good. He just wasn't making some of the putts and just some mental errors that led him to missing the cut by one, and I think he missed a few cuts by one. But all the cuts he made were top 15s, top 17s. He had a great week every time. Then sure enough, he dominates Valero with the exception of Denny.

But yeah, I think he's got it mostly figured out already. He doesn't need to ask me too many questions.

Q. (Indiscernible).

SAHITH THEEGALA: I don't know. I don't get the sense that he's too hard on himself. He has a good line between confidence and not being too cocky, which actually I could use more of that, just like more -- I don't know the right word for it. It's a line between cockiness and confidence, and he has a lot of that. He does a lot of things really well.

Again, he's only 22, though. There's a million things he can learn. I'm sure once he gets a stable caddie -- whatever it is, figure stuff out outside of the golf course, then it's only going to get better for him.

Q. Being here at Augusta, this course seems to demand you to find a little sliver somewhere. How tiring is it mentally, and what does it do to you as a golfer?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, it's very tiring because if you don't focus on a specific spot you want to hit it on -- if you're just like, I want to hit this in this area. It happened on 17, I just hit the wrong shot and didn't really -- I had no chance of hitting the green, so I should have just hit it short right or right and I tried to hit a miracle shot on the green and hit it over the green, which is the worst spot you can be, and made double. You just have to stay focused the whole time, no lapses in concentration.

I've done it before where I've locked in for all 72 holes, and it definitely is a little bit harder because it's the Masters and it has this aura around it that makes it a bigger deal than other tournaments, and it's kind of energy sucking. Just have to be a little bit more on top of it maybe outside of the golf course, too. Make sure that you're not expending any unnecessary energy.

You never know when that could catch up to you if you're tired off the golf course. Get your good sleep and make sure you get your rest and all that. But yes, you have to hit it in so many little slivers. It just comes down to execution at some point, too. If you don't execute, you're not going to play good.

Q. Any key shots this week?

SAHITH THEEGALA: I hit a great shot on 14 on Friday. It was kind of a big shot for me. Felt like I needed to pull it off to make the cut. I was in the left trees and had a very small gap and executed it perfectly, went right through the gap to 40 feet and two-putted, got par, and felt like after that I had a good chance of making the cut. That was a shot that really sticks out to me.

Then No. 4 today I hit probably the best 4-iron I've hit in a long time. I didn't even hit it close to the hole. I hit it 25 feet short, but you're trying to hit it in that little section in the middle of the green, and I hit it right there. Probably those two shots.