WM Phoenix Open

TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course)



    FEELS

    Sahith Theegala tearing up in his parents' arms after losing will really tug at your heartstrings

    February 14, 2022

    Sports are the absolute best. Unless you're a Bengals fan this morning. Or someone who bet on the Rams -3.5. But, thankfully, I am neither of those things, so sports are the best. And the golf tournament/party that preceded the Super Bowl was actually much better than the big game itself.

    In fact, it wasn't even the tournament winner, Scottie Scheffler, who produced the best moment, but rather Sahith Theegala. Playing on a sponsor's exemption, the 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie nearly won wire-to-wire before a bad bounce on the penultimate hole crushed his chances.

    Not surprisingly, Theegala was still crushed when he walked off the 18th green and into the arms of his parents, who he still lives with. As if that isn't sweet enough, check out this emotional scene. You just might want a box of tissues handy.

    Theegala's dad repeatedly telling him, "It's OK" as his son sobs on his mother's shoulder? Yeah, it's getting dusty in here too. Like we said, sports are the best.

    That was awesome. And so was seeing that emotion still there when he met with the media moments later:

    Of course, there is a huge silver lining here. Last week we wrote about tennis star Juan Martin del Potro breaking down in tears before possibly serving the final game of his injury-riddled career. That was cool, too, but for Theegala, this is just the start of his PGA Tour journey.

    As our Dan Rapaport wrote, this young man won a lot of fans this week even if he didn't win the tournament. And his two biggest were right there to see it all. Aww.