Q. Making the most of a sponsor's invite. How does it feel to be in this position after two round?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Pretty great. I haven't had time to let it set in and hopefully I don't think too much about it because obviously what I've been doing has been working the first couple days, but, yeah, again, just thankful that I'm here and trying to make the most out of the opportunity. No expectations at all, honestly.
Q. Who is having more fun you or your parents?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Oh, for sure my family. They're such a great bunch, they're so positive and the fact that they drove out here just to support me and walk six hours and probably dehydrated out there and feet hurting and still cheering me on, it's really cool to know that they're there.
Q. You must be hearing your name shouted a lot. Are they pronouncing it correctly? Do you want to just clear it up?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, it's funny, like I know who I know because they will pronounce my name like really crisply and right.
So the pronounce is Sahith Theegala. And a lot of them are saying Sahith (phonetic), which I kind of went by when I was younger, it's just easier to yell Sahith (phonetic) out here, so I think that's what a left people are doing, but it's Sahith.
Q. I read that you have scoliosis. How do you cope with that in your golf game and do you adjust for it in any way in your swing?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, luckily it's in a direction where it's not really affecting my swing. Maybe if it was the other way it would. That's where my trainer Josh and my chiro back home have played a big part. And I think I've been way better on being on top of that so it doesn't get worse and it's given me no problems at all for a really long time now, which is great. So hopefully just got to keep being on that.
Q. It's a pretty different crowd out here. Do you come into this tournament, never having played it, thinking, okay, I have to adjust what my expectations are for what I might hear and how loud it's going to be and just kind of imagine myself at the free throw line of an NBA game?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I think knowing that this is kind of a one-off deal, like this event is so great and I think it's great for the game and great for golf. But knowing that it's so different, having that mindset and knowing that the expectations of the people are going to be what they are out here, which has been awesome. But yeah, just kind of embraced it and not really let it affect me in an expectation standpoint, not really letting it affect me out there, me and Carl, my caddie, are still going through the process as we normally would. But, yeah, we'll see how it is this weekend.
Q. Can you just go down who is here? I know, I think your cousin's here, your cousin's going to like every event; and your dad's here, he's going to lot of them.
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, the reason is I'm from L.A. and they are too, so it's been pretty easy to get to all these West Coast events, so they have been here the last four weeks pretty much.
It's my parents, a couple of my uncles, probably three of my uncles this week, and then my cousin's parents -- I think there's eight of them I think. There was another cousin that came yesterday.
Q. And your caddie's family, right?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, and my caddie's girlfriend's family, yes. Yes. They're great too.
Q. After the way your day started, how were you able to turn the page and get in a positive frame of mind and go out and do what you did?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I wasn't too upset about the way it started. Like I had a 15-footer to start the day, so I was like, okay, I just put a good roll on it and see what happens. I put a good roll, just missed.
And the next tee shot I put it under the lip of the fairway bunker and I'm like, okay, I can't do much about that, right? And I knew if I kept putting the ball in the fairway I'm going to have scoring opportunities, so it was nice to reset for the 30 or 40 minutes that I had in between the rounds there.
Q. And then who were some of the guys you grew up watching kind of just as a kid coming up and wanting to be on TOUR one day?
SAHITH THEEGALA: You name it. All the guys like Vijay, Tiger, Dustin Johnson, Phil, Ernie, that kind of generation. And then obviously more recently I mean all these guys, Xander, Cantlay, all the younger generation, Rory. But, yeah, I've been -- I wouldn't say I watched a ton of golf, but I really enjoy watching golf now and seeing what some of these top guys are doing.
Q. You mentioned Cantlay. Decent chance you're paired with him tomorrow. Last group in a big tournament. How excited are you to test your game at that level on this stage?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, it's cool. I actually played with him two weeks ago on Sunday at the AmEx and that was a really cool experience. And obviously him being a So Cal guy there's a little bit of a connection there, too. But yeah, I'm ready to embrace whatever is ahead of me this weekend.
Q. Did you write a letter requesting a sponsor invitation to this tournament?
SAHITH THEEGALA: I did not. No.
Q. So it just came out of left field to you?
SAHITH THEEGALA: No, me and my agent Lynn Roach was working on it pretty good, so it wasn't totally out of left field but obviously really gracious that I got this opportunity.
Q. What do you remember from getting to play at Genesis winning the College Showcase there?
SAHITH THEEGALA: That was one of the best memories I've ever had. It was incredible. I think I just turned 19 and I knew all my family and friends were going to be out there. Literally 20 minutes from campus, so I had a bunch of people from Pepperdine coming out too.
And I got off to such a hot start there and I just remember on weekend, I played 33 holes with Phil on Sunday, and obviously that's something I'm never going to forget as a just-turned 19-year-old in college and the stories he had and all that. And Riviera's one of my, if not my favorite golf course, so nothing but good memories there.
Q. What was the goofiest outfit you saw out there today on 16 or any other hole?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Well 16 specifically I tried not to make eye contact with too many people. Maybe a couple by the green.
But I don't know, honestly I don't even remember. I was just kind of focused on what was ahead.
Q. You came in here last night and you mentioned you were very glad for the play suspension coming when it did. What did you do last night?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Caddie Carl ordered up some Thai food and we just sat in the house and watched some basketball. Yeah.
Q. You're still living with your parents, is that right?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Correct. Yeah, still living with my parents in L.A.
I was thinking about moving out, but I graduated during COVID and it just didn't really make sense for me. And I had all my team with me in California. So I'm definitely going to stay at least -- I'm going to have a place in California.
Q. A couple good more rounds and probably can afford a new place.
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, maybe. We'll see. I don't know about in California, but...
Q. You said you would just be resting, not doing anything this week. What would your parents and family that are here, what would they have been doing?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Working.
Q. What do they do?
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, they're taking time off to come out here and I know like every minute that they're not on the golf course they're working, so obviously thankful for that too.
But, yeah, they would be working and I would be doing nothing. On the off week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports