Sahith Theegala awarded himself a penalty on Saturday.
NBC Sports
Even in video playback, it’s hard to tell if Sahith Theegala touched the sand in a bunker Saturday at East Lake, but he’s apparently pretty sure he did.
After hitting his tee shot on the 4th hole third round in the tournament championship on SaturdayTheegala called a PGA Tour rules official to tell him he believed it touched the sand while playing his approach from a fairway bunker a hole earlier.
After Theegala and the official sparred for a moment, PGA Tour TV rules and video analyst Mark Dusbabek came on the NBC broadcast to confirm that Theegala had received a two-stroke penalty for the break. Rule 12.2b.
“He felt he hit the sand on his last hole when he was going back,” Dusbabek said. “It’s a penalty if you touch the sand while the ball is in the sand. We have confirmation that he thinks he did, so it will be a two-stroke penalty for him.”
This is the first event held at the newly renovated East Lake, and NBC analyst Brad Faxon was quick to point out that Theegala was close to the edge of the first fairway bunker on the right in three.
“So he was trying to hit a shot that he had to hit in the air,” Faxon said. “A lot of times, you put a little bit more weight on your right leg and the handoff would be lower because of that.
“It stinks and it’s very interesting that he would admit it because no one else would have seen it.”
Theegala had just holed a 25-footer on No. 2 to get to 13 under, a solo 4th and seven shots behind Scottie Scheffler in the race for the tournament championship and the $25 million FedEx Cup titles. After the decision, his par on the 3rd hole changed to a double bogey and he fell back to 11 under, in a tie for fifth.
Smylie Kauffman reported that Theegala slammed his water bottle on the ground in frustration after receiving the decision.
After Theegala eventually played his approach on the 4th hole, the NBC crew took a slow, zoomed look at Theegala’s bunker shot on No. 3, and no one could identify where Theegala touched the sand.
“I don’t see much there,” said analyst Kevin Kisner. “I was going to fight with (Dusbabek) when I was done. Give me back my two strokes.”
That’s when NBC got Dusbabek back to confirm that it was Theegala herself who self-reported the violation.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
