MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 12, 2025

Sahith Theegala

Quick Quotes

Q. Talk me through 17 and 18.

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I made bogey on 18. I hit a good drive but it just went through the fairway and the bunker. Didn't have a great lie in the fairway bunker.

Actually hit a decent shot out on to the greenside bunker and then just missed -- I hit a decent shot, missed like an eight-footer. Yeah, 18 has gotten me this week.

Q. At 15 you went right just behind that little TV tower. Was that where you wanted to go?

SAHITH THEEGALA: No, that was an accident. I did it yesterday, too. I tried to hit like a little thumpy draw with a wood off that side hill lie and both times I just missed it. I hit it low on the face and heeled it. Hit it way right.

It worked out. I got lucky it missed the tree both times. It's actually a reasonable angle from over there. What makes it hard is all the patrons are there, so everything is kind of trampled down and tight so you can't get the wedge underneath the ball; you have to go ball first. But it was actually a decent miss.

Q. Was it a 5-wood?

SAHITH THEEGALA: It was a 9-wood. It's like 24-degree wood.

Q. At the 4th, your tee shot, can you talk to me about that?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I was in between 4-iron and the 9-wood. It felt like the wind laid down for a little bit. It was into the wind, 238 hole, like 225 cover over the bunker adjusted. So if I hit a good draw 4-iron there it's about 230 when I hit it nice off a tee. The wind was in off the right, so I felt like if I hit a good one it would cover, but I just missed it, kind of ballooned up in that front right bunker, which was okay today.

Pretty much any miss today is fine to that front pin. Luckily hit a great bunker shot; didn't have to grind over a putt; hit it to two feet.

It's a great hole because it's a really long hole. It's tough to hit it close, but it gives you chances to get up-and-down.

Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you were striking the ball pretty well today and had a lot of par putts which were just tap-ins. Can you tell me how painful that was because you were just --

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, it was a tough round. I really hit the ball pretty nicely. Just a couple of bad wedge shots cost me on 7 and 14, like really bad wedge shots.

My short game just hasn't been good this week. That's kind of been the killer. I haven't chipped anything close. The par-5s scrambling around the green today was terrible.

I was right next to the green on all four of them and didn't even hit the green I felt like a couple times. My chipping has really let me down. I had all kinds of looks with the putter today, too. Just a lot of downhill left-to-righters.

I hit good shots, but it's just tough putts. I hit a lot of good putts. They were rolling end over end, just didn't match the speed and the line right. I got the full Augusta treatment.

Q. What do you want from the final round tomorrow?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Just to get some momentum. Like I said, I'm hitting the ball really nicely this week, probably the best I've hit it this year, which is good to see.

Going to go work on the short game a little bit and see if I can make a run for some sort of good finish. I know it's probably going to be a little tougher tomorrow, but I'll be out early enough to maybe take advantage of the start.

Q. Has this been the theme throughout the year, made 10 out of 11 cuts now --

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, precisely. Some of it is intangible, too, but on the emotional side, my attitude to start the year wasn't great first five, six, seven events, but the last three events it's been a lot better.

I'm enjoying it a lot more on the golf course again and not getting as frustrated. It's hard when the results aren't coming. But the grind is still fun and putting in the work is fun and seeing little improvements here and there and just building off of those little improvements. Can't expect it to all click at once. It might. You never know with golf. But it's good to see some progress.