logo
Sahith Theegala withdraws from PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Here's why

Sahith Theegala withdraws from PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Here's why

USA Today14-05-2025

Sahith Theegala withdraws from PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Here's why
Sahith Theegala, who withdrew from last week's signature event at Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon Course during the final round, has now pulled out of this year's PGA Championship.
Theegala, 27, withdrew on Sunday morning before the final round of the Truist, citing a neck injury. He had shot a 78 in the third round of the event and was in last place when he WD'd prior to his final round. It marked the first time in 116 career Tour starts that the Pepperdine product had withdrawn from a tournament.
After a sterling 2024 season in which he finished third in the FedEx Cup standings, Theegala has struggled this season with just two top-25 finishes in 14 starts. He was slated to make his third appearance at the PGA Championship after finishing T-40 at Oak Hill in 2023 and then T-12 last year at Valhalla.
Theegala has one career Tour title, in the 2023 Fortinet Championship, and earned a spot on last year's U.S. Presidents Cup team.
There were 10 names on the original alternate list released last Tuesday by the PGA of America, but first alternate Patrick Fishburn later received an official invite, while second alternate Rico Hoey got the call when Billy Horschel had to withdraw as he prepares for hip surgery. Alex Smalley was next on the list and he will make a start at Quail Hollow.
The alternate list now looks like this:
Vince Whaley
Doug Ghim
Matt Kuchar
Carson Young
David Lipsky
Golfweek's Adam Schupak and Todd Kelly contributed to this article.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Peter Malnati gave an epic speech to PGA Tour membership. He walks us through his message
Peter Malnati gave an epic speech to PGA Tour membership. He walks us through his message

USA Today

time5 hours ago

  • USA Today

Peter Malnati gave an epic speech to PGA Tour membership. He walks us through his message

DETROIT – Being a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board has become hard work. On Wednesday, Zach Johnson, who served on the Tour board from 2009-11, applauded the six players who are currently serving during arguably the most turbulent time in the Tour's history. 'When I served on the board, I had to deal with drug testing – should we or should we not? – and FedEx Cup point realignment. That was the heaviest thing I had to deal with and there never was more than three meetings a year,' Johnson said. 'Since COVID, that hasn't been the case.' Peter Malnati, a 38-year-old two-time winner whose two-year board tenure ends later this year, knew what he was getting himself into but ran for the role anyway. He likely would lead the statistical category Strokes Gained: Positive Thinking if Strokes Gained creator Mark Broadie could devise a way to rank it. Adam Schenk may have summed up Malnati's optimistic outlook best: 'He's so nice and he actually means it.' (In this writer's opinion, he's golf's Ted Lasso.) Malnati's speech was a highlight of player meeting On Tuesday, during the Tour's mandatory player meeting, he gave 'an impassioned speech' – that's how fellow pro Mark Hubbard described it – to those players in the 156-man field at the Rocket Classic. [Not all 156 attended. Some were excused because they already had attended a similar meeting the week before at the Travelers Championship or because the meeting time conflicted with a sponsor commitment or other excused absences.] 'Peter talks from his heart,' said fellow Tour policy board member Camilo Villegas. 'He's had a chance to sit on the board and understand why the decisions that have been made in the last few years have been the right decisions at the moment they were made and how the goal posts keep getting moved in an evolving business and constantly analyzing what's for the best because it's a fast-moving and evolving business.' 'I'm pretty honored that anyone referred to it as an impassioned speech, but it was something that I feel really strongly about,' Malnati said in a voice message to Golfweek. Malnati went on to recount the message he delivered to players on Tuesday, during which he admitted he may have signed off on losing his job someday with the Tour implementing a new policy reducing the number of players who retain fully-exempt status from 125 to 100 beginning this year. [Malnati, who entered the week at No. 194 in the FedEx Cup is exempt for next season as the winner of the 2024 Valspar Championship.] What you're about to read is shades of Jim Colbert, a mid-tier Tour member who would go on to win eight Tour titles, who once famously said at a Tour players meeting in 1983, 'It's real simple, boys. Just play better.' When players make arguments that don't directly benefit their own cause, the professional golf ecosystem should listen its hardest … because they're rare. Malnati does that with these remarks. 'I just wanted to say to the membership that I ran for a seat on the board because I cared – really, really, strongly about not losing opportunities and not seeing the Tour get smaller and in my time on the board, both of those things have happened. And because I was on the inside and I saw the thought process, I supported them – doesn't mean they're easy for me. It doesn't mean they don't hurt because they do," Malnati began. 'I feel like the Tour at its core was built around the idea of maximizing playing opportunities and may the best man win. So it hurts to see the best option be to reduce playing opportunities and to see the Tour shrink." Malnati said shrinking Tour makes sense, even if it hurts Malnati continued to share with the membership that there's tangible evidence of late that validates the thought process. [Over the last six months, the Tour has closed nearly $1 billion in new or renewed contracts. Additionally, CBS reported a 13 percent year-over-year ratings increase and a 19 percent year-over-year increase at signature events. Many other metrics are ticking in the right direction, such as its digital platforms.] 'Seeing the success in renewing full-field title sponsorships for long-term deals in the 9-plus-million-dollar per range that's impressive – that's really impressive. It speaks to the fact that these full-field events feel that they're getting good value. And you know it's marked and measurable to see that their fields are stronger than they were when the invitational events that had 120-player fields and then obviously the first year of signature events, they still played at their regular field sizes. That was crushing the full field events and sponsors were really concerned and now to see the momentum where sponsors are back supporting the full-field events at really nice purse levels – that's a huge win for the entire membership.' Malnati wanted them to hear that directly from him and also address the elephant in the room, what he termed 'the thing that we all hate the most, which is the smaller fields and the signature events and the upcoming reduction of fully-exempt cards from 125 to 100 for next season. 'That is simply a re-prioritizing of PGA Tour members that takes guys who go out and play a season on the Korn Ferry Tour and finish in the top 20 and says to them you deserve starts in all the full-field events and I think that's absolutely true now. Is it a great accomplishment to finish in the top 125 on the PGA Tour? It is, it's really good. Is it an even greater accomplishment to finish in the top 100? Yes, I've achieved that twice in my 10 seasons on Tour. I shared that with the membership yet I still think this was the right thing to do because the point of everything we're doing is to identify players who can become superstars and drive the brand forward and so we've got to give those guys that graduate from the Korn Ferry Tour a fair shot to play and so I think going from 125 cards to 100 and then putting the guys that finish 101 to 125 in the next-best conditional category after the Korn Ferry Tour graduates was absolutely the right thing to do even though in a way I was cutting my own head off.' New PGA Tour system to closer mimic Formula 1 How many players would support a decision that might be 'cutting their own head off?' Malnati realizes that barely any players outside the top 100 on Tour generate standalone attention. Sure, there are exceptions like Joel Dahmen (and Tiger Woods wouldn't be Tiger Woods without fields of 156 to beat up on). But fewer players in the arena make it easier for the Tour to market players, easier for fans to know more contenders on a leaderboard, and it's more assuring to sponsors that top-tier players contend or win in their tournaments. Look no further than F1, which is its most popular now, with just 20 drivers who all drive in every race. Same with NASCAR. Athletes in team sports are expected to play in every one of their teams' games. 'Then lastly shared the fact that the system while it creates a very narrow funnel, I said the whole point of what we're doing – the Tour doesn't want to use this language quite this bluntly – we're identifying the top players and get them competing against each other more regularly,' Malnati said. 'So, yes, the signature event model caters to top players, it does, but the thing that I want everyone in that room and everyone on Tour and every fan and every partner to realize is that even though smaller fields are inherently a little bit less competitive because there's fewer guys, the system (we're implementing) right now there's no rules that rule out anyone. J.J. Spaun was not exempt into a single signature event at the start of this year … and he's currently ranked eighth in the world. He played his way there. Maverick McNealy played his way into the top 10 in the world – I think he's 14 right now but he was top 10 in the world. Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak, in terms of everything they're able to accomplish now on Tour, they have played their way into that group of top players. They're going to qualify for the BMW Championship this year, be fully exempt for signature events next year and they've played their way into it. 'This system is aspirational,' Malnati continued. 'The funnel is small, but the opportunity is there and it's still objective. It's still golf. If you shoot low enough scores, you will be there, so, I closed by saying my challenge to Brian Rolapp is to continue to grow the opportunity on the PGA Tour. I want to see him grow it for top players, I want to see him grow it for every single member and my challenge to all the members in the room was to go be as competitive as you can be and believe. But the guys who shoot the best scores are our top players and the more that we do that, the more that we go out and put on a show and strive to become top players, the better our product is, the more fans are going to engage with it and the more opportunity will be for everyone. So that was my spiel …. I'm glad someone thought to call it impassioned. I felt very passionate about it. I still feel very passionate about it but it's definitely been hard.'

Five Scots star in Lions' thumping win over Western Force
Five Scots star in Lions' thumping win over Western Force

Yahoo

time5 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Five Scots star in Lions' thumping win over Western Force

Finn Russell shone in his first appearance of the 2025 tour [Getty Images] Five Scotland stars were involved in the British & Irish Lions tour-opening victory over the Western Force in Perth, with Huw Jones making his debut. Pierre Schoeman, Scott Cummings, Finn Russell and Sione Tuipulotu were all in from the start while Jones entered in the 55th minute. Advertisement Russell was making his first start of the tour, having missed last weekend's loss to Argentina after guiding Bath to the Premiership title in England. He started in fine fashion, as his cross-kick helped set up captain Dan Sheehan's opening try, before almost scoring a fine solo effort with a disguised tap-and-go in the 35th minute, popping up for Elliot Daly to score when he himself was held short. Tuipulotu was shifted from outside to inside centre and looked slightly more comfortable in partnership with Garry Ringrose. He's the only player to play every minute of the tour so far. Eagle-eyed fans also noticed that Welsh scrum-half Tomos Williams limped from the field after his second try, seemingly nursing a hamstring injury. Advertisement Lions' head coach Andy Farrell has said it's "too early to know" what the impact will be, but Scotland's Ben White will surely be high in Farrell's thinking if a new number nine is needed.

Golfer Narrowly Escapes Having PGA Tour Status Revoked
Golfer Narrowly Escapes Having PGA Tour Status Revoked

Yahoo

time7 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Golfer Narrowly Escapes Having PGA Tour Status Revoked

Golfer Narrowly Escapes Having PGA Tour Status Revoked originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Rocket Mortgage Classic has been a rollercoaster so far at Detroit Golf Club. Heading into the weekend, Andrew Putnam, Philip Knowles and Chris Kirk share the top spot, with a tight leaderboard setting up an unpredictable finish. But the biggest drama wasn't at the top, it was at the cut line, where 28-year-old Will Gordon delivered the gutsiest performance of his season. Advertisement Gordon, playing in the final event of his major medical exemption, had one job make the cut. And boy, did he cut it close. He birdied each of his last two holes Friday, carding a second straight 3-under 69 to finish at 6-under overall, right on the number. His final putt, a clutch six-footer, had him pumping his fists before he dropped to his knees, overwhelmed with emotion. Will Gordon hits his tee shot on the 17th hole during the second round of the Sony Open golf tournament at Waialae Country Terada-Imagn Images "That's why you play," Gordon told Golf Channel, holding back tears. "I was just proud of keeping my head in it, fighting to the end. That's what I do." And fight he did. After a rough few years including a severe neck injury that sidelined him for five months last season, Gordon's Tour future was hanging by a thread. He's missed 9 of 13 cuts this season, but a couple of top-10s had him at No. 136 in the FedExCup points. Missing this cut would've cost him his card. Instead, thanks to a Michael Kim three-putt that shifted the cut line back to 6-under, Gordon gets to play the weekend and earns enough points to keep conditional status. Advertisement While big names like Collin Morikawa missed the cut, Gordon gets one more shot. 'It's kind of crazy it's come down to this,' he said. 'But again, you get what you earn in this game.' Related: PGA Tour Golfer Has Complete Meltdown During Rocket Classic on Friday This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store