THE 154TH OPEN

July 18, 2026

Sahith Theegala

Mixed Zone

Q. Run us through the week. It's been a bit of a tense week.

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, it's been a great week. I love The Open Championship. I'm always bummed that my results here haven't been better, but I'm really happy with the week so far. I just haven't putted up to my standards. I think maybe next year, I might try maybe just for these couple weeks to use a different putter. Just really struggle with the five- to 15-footers. They just tend to have a lot less break and you have to hit them firmer, and I'm kind of a feel putter in that I like to see a high line, drip line and then a firmer line. But sometimes I struggle to start it on line in this wind. Today wasn't windy but just because of the pace of the greens and the nature of the slopes.

But yeah, it's been a good week. It's been a lot of golf. I think this is 22 events on the year so far. Body is definitely a bit tired.

Yeah, a lot better shape than last year for sure. Last year was a bummer. So it's really nice to be healthy.

Q. You must have been happy enough playing 22 weeks after what happened last year. You said you want to play as much as you can.

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I think I'm going to take a few weeks off after this. A few parts of my body are starting to feel the wear and tear. But in a good way. We have a good plan. I think my swing is starting to come around in a way where it's built to last rather than built to tear myself down.

Still working on the posture stuff and trying to keep the club more in front of me so I have less side bend and all that. So it's a work in progress.

I think this year has been a lot of really good steps in doing that and trying to have a long career. I love playing competitively, and I just want to be out here as long as possible.

Q. Would you say you're fully 100 percent now again in terms of fitness?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yes, general fitness, yes. Just this week a couple nagging kind of injuries, I guess, but just from playing a lot -- like good stuff. It's not related to any neck, back or any of that kind of stuff.

But yes, I've been 100 percent the whole season, which was a huge goal of mine, which was the biggest goal. It's really nice. Hopefully get to take a little bit of a break, but take two weeks off and then make a strong push and try and get into the TOUR Championship.

Q. Now that the major season is over, what's next, the playoffs?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, playoffs, and then hopefully take some time off. Huge goal of mine was obviously stay healthy all year but obviously be in that top 50 for the Signature Events.

I'm going to need a good finish tomorrow and one more good week probably to for sure cement that. But I think if I do make that top 50, I'll take most of the fall off. I might just play one or two events, if that, and just kind of gear up for next season.

This year had so many unknowns. I wasn't in any of the Signatures. I was in zero of the majors. I didn't have anything to really prep for necessarily other than to get healthy and to focus on just trying to get into events and playing as well as I can in every event.

Yeah, it's been close. I definitely haven't had my game. I've gotten a lot out of my game, but haven't been firing on all cylinders really. One part of the game will show up a week it seems like and then the rest don't, and then the next week it's a different part of the game that shows up and the rest don't.

At every point in the season I feel like every part of the game has been really good. Just trying to blend at least a couple more of those together.

Q. Considering where you were at the start of the year, would you say your playing has been pretty satisfactory in terms of where you are right now?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, considering to start the year my status was terrible and I had nothing guaranteed for next year. So it was really nice pretty early on, so three, four months into the season I had some really, really good results, results that I wasn't sure I was ever going to have again after last year's injury stuff. It's easy to blame the injuries but it's also easy to question if your game is still there on the way back.

Luckily I've done this a long time and putting in the work, so can't be too hard on what the results end up being. It was just more confidence to see that the results were still showing up when the game was there.

I'd say this year is a huge success, even making it to here without any injuries. Yeah, I'd say this is a big success.

Q. You're not sure about what you'll do after the playoffs?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I'm getting married in October, so I'm going to spend some time with friends and family and then we're going to do a honeymoon after, so that's taking up a while. I don't want to say never, but it's probably too late to make a Presidents Cup push. I'm 40 something in the points. Unless I win back-to-back playoff events or something, I think I'm out of the race for that.

Then I've just played so much golf trying to secure my status that -- I really want to play some of the DP events, but this fall is not a good time for me to do that. Yeah, just going to take the time to reset and rest.

Q. How is the family, your dad?

SAHITH THEEGALA: They're great. They're not here. It's probably the first time they haven't come to the Open. But they'll be there for the playoffs. They're travelling a lot. But he's great. He's my biggest supporter. My mom has become also co-biggest supporter. I love having them around. It's been great. It's just unconditional love and support. Yeah, luckily my fiance and them get along great, and it's always a great time when we're all together. Looking forward to the playoffs and seeing us all together again.

Q. Any plans for India?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I think -- I'm not 100 percent yet, but pretty sure I'll play Hero Indian Open next year. I don't want to say for certain, but pretty sure. If everything goes accordingly, I'll be there. But yeah, I should be there.