Team USA's Sahith Theegala may well make his Presidents Cup debut at Royal Montreal Golf Club later this month with two 8-irons in the bag.
That's because - according to a story told by NBC Sports reporter, Smylie Kaufman on his podcast 'The Smylie Show' - the in-form player has recently been rocking two clubs with different lofts but the same number on the sole of the clubhead.
Discussing the best or worst superstitions out on tour at the moment with his fellow host, Charlie Hulme, Kaufman recalled a moment from the third round of the Tour Championship at East Lake where he asked Theegala about a fairway-bunker shot and was caught off guard by the American's confusing reply.
Re-living the moment on his podcast, Kaufman said: "The current one that I've seen - this happened at the Tour Championship - is with Sahith Theegala.
"As I'm walking down the first fairway and I'm just like 'what's up, Sahith? Sick fairway-bunker shot, what did you hit there?' And he's like 'well, I hit a 7-iron but it says an eight.' I'm like 'what are you talking about?'
What’s your biggest golf superstition?For @SRTheegala at the @TOURChamp, it was ❌7️⃣ New ep out now - @PresidentsCup picks, a new "Match" pitting PGA Tour and LIV stars against each other, and the debut of our mailbag segment!@smyliekaufman10 | @charliehulme | @SportsGridTV pic.twitter.com/6bdkrJxEtwSeptember 9, 2024
"Sahith is like 'dude, last couple of weeks, I've been really struggling with my 7-iron. I've been mis-hitting it and I've been fatting it, so I showed up to East Lake this week and said 'please, manufacturers, just don't put seven on it. Just put 8-iron on the top.' I was like 'are you serious?'
"I had to go look in his golf bag and, of course, what do I see? I see two 8-irons in his golf bag. All day, I was getting the sign for the 7-iron that he was hitting. I was like 'guys, this is an 8-iron, but it's the 7-iron.'
Evidently, the unique set-up worked wonders as Theegala came from 12th place and three-under before a ball was struck at East Lake to ultimately finish the FedEx Cup in third - six shots behind Scottie Scheffler - and collect an extra $7.5 million.
Coincidentally, it was also during the third round that Theegala called a two-stroke penalty on himself for improving his lie out of a bunker. Although replays were inconclusive, Theegala was convinced he had seen some sand move when hitting out of a bunker on the third hole, causing him to alert an official.
In the end, the act of integrity saw the 26-year-old Californian finish two strokes behind Morikawa in the starting-score-adjusted FedEx Cup table - and one off his fellow American in the gross leaderboard - which cost him roughly $2.5 million.
