Sahith Theegala captures Genesis Open Collegiate Showcase

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA (February 13, 2017) -- If you had plans to hangout with Sahith Theegala on Thursday he is going to have to happily cancel them. Why? Well because he has a Thursday Genesis Open tee time.

The Pepperdine sophomore made the turn at Riviera Country Club at 2 under and despite the lead getting as small as one on the back nine Theegala was able to hold on and win the Genesis Open Collegiate Showcase. With the win Theegala, who beat five others, earned himself an exemption into this weeks PGA Tour stop.

"My only goal for the week is to have fun," Theegala told the on-course reporter following his round.

By the time Theegala teed off on the closing hole he had restored his lead to two-strokes and despite bogeying the final hole Theegala had done more then enough throughout his round.

That'll do it! With a bogey on 18 @SRTheegal a of @PeppGolf has earned a spot in the @genesisop en courtesy of the Collegiate Showcase! pic.twitter.com/uF3 vv1cHXd

— SCGA (@thescga) February 13, 2017

Theegala made national headlines last year by making a run to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals as the 61-seed. Now six months before the 2017 U.S. Amateur, Theegala will get an extended sneak peak at this years host venue, Riviera Country Club.

Making up the reminder of the collegiate field were Colorado's Jeremy Paul, Kentucky's Tyler (Chip) McDaniel, Texas' Gavin Hall, UCLA's Tyler Collier and Washington's Corey Pereira. The college players were also joined by program alumnus including world No. 6 Jordan Spieth who won the NCAA Team Championship with Texas in 2012, Kentucky alum J.B. Holmes and former UCLA Bruin Kevin Chappell. Each group also included two amateur playing alumni from the school.

During the round the foursomes played a best-ball competition against each other with the winning team earning a $50,000 donation to that schools golf program.

This year that prize went to Pepperdine with Theegala being joined by PGA pro Jeff Gove, Paul Porteous and Matt Stapleton.

Last year Charlie Danielson of Illinois won the Collegiate Showcase with a 3-under 68 before going onto to make the cut. In 2015 at the inaugural event Will Zalatoris of Wake Forest earned the top prize.

-The Genesis Open contributed to this story