Mind Games
The superstitious reason Sahith Theegala had two 8 irons in his bag at the Tour Championship (wait, what?)
Ben Jared
Sahith Theegala led the field in strokes-gained/approach at the Tour Championship, and he did so with two 8 irons in his bag.
Wait, what?
That's right, Theegala's incredible end-of-season performance at East Lake, which earned him $7.5 million, came with two clubs that had an "8" stamped on them. And it wasn't a mistake, either. This was done on purpose.
NBC on-course reporter Smylie Kaufman relayed the story on his podcast, "The Smylie Show," on Monday. Kaufman was answering a listener question about the "worst/best superstitions" he's heard from players this year. He immediately jumped to one he heard from Theegala after he complimented a fairway bunker shot Theegala had just hit in Atlanta.
"As I'm walking down the first fairway, I'm just like 'what's up Sahith," Kaufman said. "I was like, sick fairway bunker shot, what'd you hit there? He's like, well I hit a 7 iron, but it says an 8. I'm like, what are you talking about?
"Sahith is like, 'dude, last couple weeks I've been really struggling with my 7 iron. I've been mis-hitting it, fatting it. So I showed up to East Lake this week and said, please, manufacturers, just don't put 7 on it, Just put 8 iron on the top.' I was like, are you serious?"
Kaufman, naturally, had to go see Theegala's bag for himself. Two 8 irons, confirmed:
Playing mind tricks on yourself is certainly not uncommon for professional golfers. Last February, England's Matt Wallace revealed that he and his caddie came up with a system to help him get off to faster starts on Thursdays. The system? Pretending they are starting the tournament a few shots over par, instantly dialing up the pressure and forcing Wallace to play aggressive from the start. But two 8 irons, one of which is actually a 7? That's a new one.
Our only follow-up question - did Sahith tell caddie Carl Smith "give me the 7" or "give me the 'other 8'" when he needed to hit 7 at East Lake? That had to be confusing for Smith, who clearly earned his 10 percent that week.
