Indian American pro golfer Sahith Theegala went down in the record books as the man to hit the first tee shot at the US Open in Torrey Pines on Thursday. Shooting a 5-over in the opening round, it remains to be seen if Sahith can make the weekend, but he had a lot of other factors going for him here. Read on:
U.S. Open being held at Torrey Pines, you’re a local. What did that mean to you being able to play in a U.S. Open in your home state?
Sahith: Yeah, it’s awesome. I had a lot of family and friends come out today, which was great and support me. Yeah, hour and a half drive away from where I grew up, so it was cool to be able to just hop in my car and say I’m driving to the U.S. Open and Torrey Pines.
And I’m obviously super comfortable with the conditions just because I grew up on Poa Annua and Kikuyu. So, yeah, it means a lot to me that I ended up qualifying for this.
You’re going to go down in the record books as being the person that hit the first ball this morning. What does that mean to you?
Sahith: Oh, it means a lot. It was cool. Such a cool experience. I know it got a little bit delayed there, but that’s something I’m never going to forget for sure, hitting the first tee shot at a Major, I’m going to look back at one of the coolest moments of my golf career, for sure.
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You mentioned you grew up playing here. How were the course conditions today versus what you’re used to when you come to Torrey Pines South?
Sahith: They’re obviously very tough. Greens are a little bit firmer, rough is kind of patchy. It’s tough for sure. It’s definitely tougher and firmer than I’ve played it before, but it’s still a really fair test and I think it played really solid out there. Yeah, I was happy with the way that — or I felt like the golf course was playing fair and a little bit firmer, that’s definitely a big thing.
Going into Friday, any changes in your game plan?
Sahith Theegala: Just going to go work on a few things and stick to the fundamentals. Just got to hit more fairways, I think I only hit five or six fairways today. So, try and maybe even dial back a little bit, because the fairways are so firm that you’re getting a lot of roll, so maybe hit less than driver on some of the tees to put it in the short grass, because it’s super important.
Text courtesy:- USGA
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