Sunday was a grind for Sahith Theegala. He was hurt from the opening tee shot.
He pulled an oblique, and it affected him throughout the final round. Especially with his driver and longer irons, Theegala was clearly in some pain after nearly every swing.
“It’s funny, I was just telling my mom at breakfast, knocked on wood how healthy I’ve been for the last four, five years,” Theegala said.
However, he said it subsided as the round went on. He joked teammate Tom Hoge’s back was the one that was hurting because he carried Theegala all day.
He said the adrenaline of the moment took over when stepping on the 18th tee, and Theegala capitalized.
Theegala and Hoge won the 2022 QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, coming from two down entering the final round to win. Theegala, who hit his best drive of the day down the 18th fairway, drilled a birdie putt to give he and Hoge a one-shot lead. Ryan Palmer and Charley Hoffman, who led after the first and second rounds, each had shorter looks at birdie but were unable to convert.
“It was an interesting day because I don’t think either one of us played our best for 18 holes, but we kind of timed it right,” Hoge said. “I got off to some good starts to both nines and then Sahith kind of brought me home. You know, kind of the ham and egg worked really well for us and holed the timely putts when we needed to, for sure.”
Theegala and Hoge are only the second rookie team to ever win at the QBE Shootout, the first pair being Keegan Bradley and Brendan Steele in 2011. Hoge won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last year, and Theegala has yet to win on the PGA Tour.
“We’ve been playing well all week,” Theegala said. “Like we said at the start of the round, we just need two chances and we gave ourselves two really good changes on 18. Yeah, it was kind of unspoken I think that like let’s go and get this last hole.”
Hoge and Theegala shot 10-under 62 in Sunday four-ball, three better than Hoffman and Palmer’s 65, to finish at 34 under for the tournament. On the back nine, Hoffman and Palmer made birdies on five of six holes, but the biggest was on the par-5 17th that tied the teams with one hole to play.
Palmer’s third shot, a chip from the left side of the green, came up short of the green and trickled back to his feet. He hit it again, bouncing off the hill before hitting the green and finding the bottom of the cup.
That’s when Theegala came through and propelled he and Hoge to victory.
“Give credit to them, they went out and played some good golf today,” Hoffman said. “They made a lot of putts and hit a lot of good shots.”
Nelly Korda, who made her QBE Shootout debut this week playing with Denny McCarthy, chipped in for birdie on 18 to cap their second round and nearly one-upped herself Sunday. Korda’s hybrid from the fairway lipped out for eagle, but she drained the birdie putt.
As if people didn’t know, Nelly Korda showed out this week at the QBE Shootout pic.twitter.com/lYkYGcexD5
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) December 11, 2022
Korda, who’s playing with her father in the PNC Championship next weekend, and McCarthy finished tied for fifth at 27 under.
Lexi Thompson, the other female professional in the field, shot 24 under and finished T-10 with partner Maverick McNealy. This was the first time in QBE Shootout history that there were two women in the field, but that may change again come next year.
Harris English and Matt Kuchar also shot 10 under Sunday, finishing solo third at 32 under. It’s their seventh time finishing in the top five as a team at the QBE Shootout, extending their tournament record.
