MEMPHIS — Sahith Theegala was busy sizing up his pending chip shot on No. 17 at TPC Southwind during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Meanwhile, his parents, Karuna and Muralidhar, were weighing in on the 24-year-old’s non-golf goals from the gallery. Mom and Dad – one calm and collected, the other affable and emotional – weren’t yet aware that Theegala wants to invest in a new car and a new wardrobe.
Theegala still drives the same Volkswagen Passat he’s had since high school.
“He loves that car, so that surprises me,” said Karuna.
With the California native and former Pepperdine star playing the way he has in Memphis, he won’t have much trouble getting a new ride in the very near future. Theegala got off to a roaring start Thursday with a first-round 63, walking off the course third on the leaderboard. A few rough patches on the back nine Friday slowed his pace some. The Tour rookie safely made the cut but will need to rebound. He enters Saturday at 7 under, at least three strokes off the lead.
Theegala is one of a handful of golfers in Memphis this week taking part in their very first FedEx Cup Playoffs, joining Cam Young, Davis Riley, Joonhyung “Tom” Kim and Mito Pereira. But he’s the leader of the rookie pack. He also might have the densest and most fervent cheering section – dubbed “The Theegala Squad” by the official PGA Tour Twitter account – of the bunch.
Karuna and Muralidhar have been joined this week by a handful of family members, close personal friends and figures instrumental in their son’s career development. Theegala, whose father introduced him to the game at three years old despite having practically never played it himself, is used to the support during tournaments closer to his home state.
Having so many familiar faces in such unfamiliar terrain, however, has made a difference, he admits.
“I have my (collegiate) head coach and his boys here, which is awesome to have them out,” he said Friday. “See my parents and a couple uncles and friends, so I probably have a crew of 10. This might be like the third time, second or third time all year where I’ve had my full – like, I had my swing coach here and my trainer and my agent. So it’s kind of nice. It feels comforting to have everyone around.
“Yeah, it means the world to me that they’re here.”
A relative unknown, Theegala is no stranger to favorable leaderboard positions. He’s now made 24 out of 30 cuts. He missed a playoff at the Waste Management Phoenix Open by a single stroke. A double-bogey on the final hole of the Travelers Championship cost him his first Tour victory.
Between his early success and his gregarious traveling party, Theegala’s profile and fan base are on the rise. Garry Frank, Rob Edwards and Michael Urban made the trip from St. Louis this week with plans to watch as much of the field as possible. On Friday, the group found themselves following Theegala throughout the majority of his round, chatting up and fist-bumping his family the whole way.
“Right, because they’re so nice,” said Frank, a meteorologist for KSDK. “His whole family is just the nicest. Like, ‘This is such and such and this is so and so. And this is my best friend of 40 years (Raj Menon, a former plant manager for Cummins in Memphis). He’s telling us stories, talking to us. Just very nice.”
Theegala (40th in the FedExCup standings) is still focused on finishing strong in Memphis, hopeful it’s enough to advance to next week’s BMW Championship. Maybe after that, he’ll concentrate on a new set of wheels.
“(My Passat) just hit the 100,000-mile mark,” he said. “The problem is I just got it fixed, like a $700 repair, so I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t need a new car now.’ But I’ve always dreamed of having a nice car. That was kind of the first thing that I was going to buy. I don’t really spend on anything, so definitely going to look into it. I think this offseason I’m going to do it.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.