Theegala tops SCGA Am leaderboard with one round remaining

July 13, 2019 | by Southern California Golf Association

Sahith Theegala (Photo by Jeff Golden)

The summer of Pepperdine continues as Sahith Theegala tries to add a line to his team’s remarkable list of summer successes.

The summer of Pepperdine continues as Sahith Theegala, the rising Waves senior who has been out a year with a wrist injury, tries to add a line to his team’s remarkable list of summer achievements. Theegala is contending for the SCGA Amateur title just two weeks after nearly winning the Sahalee Players Amateur – a title that went to teammate Joe Highsmith instead.

It was a tight round on Saturday at Lakeside GC and Theegala, who is finding his form again after a 10-month break from competition, came away with a one-stroke lead on Trip Morris heading into the final round at the 120th Amateur Championship. Theegala, with rounds of 68-67-65 so far this week, is 10 under for the tournament.

Moving day was off to a hot start for Theegala, who put together a 4-under front nine that included an eagle and four birdies. But his playing partner Trip Morris gave him a run for his money with a birdie on No. 1 and matched Theegala’s eagle on No. 2.

Theegala looked calm and collected all day, signing for five pars sandwiched between two birdies in the afternoon. With his confident iron game, he got a birdie on No. 16 after a striped iron shot offering a gimme putt going into the final two holes.

Morris was chomping at the bit, keeping a close distance to the leader with his bogey-free back nine. The best one-two punch came from Morris today, hitting the pin on No. 14 from about 120 yards out followed by an eruption of applause from the largest crowd of the day. It was unfortunately knocked greenside, but he proceeded to drain it for birdie – as if the first applause wasn’t enough.

Charlie Reiter had an up-and-down kind of day in the second to last group finding four bogeys but hung on after his back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14. Reiter will join Theegala and Morris in the final group on Sunday.

Forty-five players will continue to the final round, and tee times begin at 7:30 off of No. 1.

Results: SCGA Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Sahith Theegala	Chino Hills, CA	400	68-67-65-65=265
2	Trip Morris	Valley Village, CA	260	66-69-66-72=273
3	Sam Kim	Irvine, CA	160	71-71-64-68=274
4	Devon Bling	Ridgecrest, CA	160	72-69-66-68=275
T5	Charlie Reiter	Palm Desert, CA	160	69-67-68-73=277

View full results for SCGA Amateur

About the SCGA Amateur

Theegala tops SCGA Am leaderboard with one round remaining

This is the longest standing championship conducted by the SCGA. Started in 1900, this event crowns the best amateur player of the Association. Since the inaugural event, the SCGA Amateur has enjoyed an illustrious history of great champions, includi...