Golf: Theegala tees up in attempt to make Play-offs as Bhatia looks to rise in rankings

Hans India

23-07-2025

Blaine: Akshay Bhatia will seek to improve his position from the current 46th on the FedExCup points list, while for Sahith Theegala, who came back to action last week at the Open, the 3M Open is one of the last two chances to make the big jump into the Top-70 for the 2025 Playoffs.
Bhatia is 46th on the list and 38th in the world. Theegala is 50th in the world ranking. While Bhatia and Theegala have full status for the Tour because they made the Top-30 Tour Championship in 2024, they are seeking a better ranking to get into the $ 20M Signature events next season.
Theegala also plans to play a lot of Fall Season events after the Playoffs. For now, Theegala needs something like a win or a Top-3 in both events to have a chance to squeeze into the Play-offs.
Theegala tees off with Maverick McNealy, the highest-ranked player in the field, and Max Homa, also looking to make the Playoffs. Bhatia plays with William Mouw and Jake Knapp.
Last year, Theegala was Tied-sixth at the 3M Open, so it clearly suits him, but he had missed the cut on three earlier occasions, while Bhatia, in his first appearance at the event last year, was T-64.
Bhatia, in his last five starts, has been in the Top-30 three times, including at the Open, but is still some way from the kind of form that saw him finish third at the PLAYERS.
Theegala has missed his last two cuts, including at the Open, and his best this year has been T-17 at Genesis in February and then T-17 at Zurich Classic with Indo-British Aaron Rai.
Also, the Indian-American duo will be looking to go up in the ranking to merit an invitation to Tiger Woods' elite Top-20 event, the Hero World Challenge, which both played last year and was fourth as Scottie Scheffler won a second time.
The four majors, eight Signature Events, THE PLAYERS Championship, five Additional Events, and another 16 competitions are all done and dusted, and only two tournaments remain for the Playoffs to begin. After the 3M Open is the Wyndham Championship.
Dozens in the field of 156 at the 3M Open who currently sit outside the bubble to qualify for the three-event series will be hoping for a good outing these two weeks, and Theegala is one of them.
Maverick McNealy returns to the 3M Open as the highest-ranked golfer in the field, and he is also on the hunt for a spot on the U.S. Team at the Ryder Cup. McNealy finished tied for third last year in Minnesota and has six top-10 finishes so far this year.
After his magical run in Europe, Chris Gotterup returns to the U.S. with momentum on his side. Gotterup won the Genesis Scottish Open and followed that up with a solo third at The Open Championship, while Jhonattan Vegas returns to the 3M Open looking to become the first golfer to successfully go back-to-back in the tournament's history.
Other top stars include Sam Burns (22nd on FedExCup), Wyndham Clark (25th), Gotterup (23rd), and Sungjae Im (29th).