QUICK FACTS
Full Name: Sahith Reddy Theegala
Born: December 4, 1997 (age 28)
Birthplace: Orange, California
Raised: Chino Hills, California
Residence: Jupiter, Florida (previously Spring, Texas, near Houston)
Height: 6’3″
Nationality: American (of Telugu/Indian descent)
College: Pepperdine University — Sports Administration
Turned Pro: June 2020
Current World Ranking: #85 (OWGR) / #85 (DataGolf)
FAMILY & HERITAGE
Parents: Muralidhar (“Murli”) and Karuna Theegala, an especially compelling immigrant story on tour. Murli moved from Hyderabad, India, to the U.S. in 1987 to attend graduate school at Kansas State (he’s an IIT Madras graduate), eventually settling the family in the Los Angeles area, where Sahith was born. Murli’s own love of golf, picked up after moving to the U.S., is what first got Sahith into the game. Karuna is a thyroid cancer survivor; she battled the disease in 2001, during which Sahith’s maternal grandmother moved from India to help raise him and his brother.
Brother: Sahan Theegala.
Girlfriend: Julianna “Juju” Chan met at Pepperdine, where she was a record-setting swimmer for the Waves. They lost touch after college until Sahith spotted her “Juju” license plate in Houston and texted her a photo of it; they reconnected at the 2022 Fortinet Championship and have been together since. Juju, who works for a tech startup, has caddied for him at the Masters Par 3 Contest.
A landmark moment: In 2024, Theegala became the first Indian-American to appear in a major U.S. sports advertising campaign, a milestone he’s described as meaningful for representation both in the U.S. and in India’s growing golf scene.
TEAM THEEGALA
Caddie: Carl Smith, the same Pepperdine assistant coach who originally recruited Theegala to the program, now carries his bag on Tour, a full-circle relationship. The two reportedly spend a lot of on-course downtime talking about basketball.
College Coach: Michael Beard, Pepperdine’s head golf coach, is credited by Theegala as central to his transformation into a professional-caliber player.
CAREER NUMBERS
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| PGA Tour Wins | 1 (2023 Fortinet Championship, a wire-to-wire, 21-under win with his parents by his side on the 18th green) |
| Career PGA Tour Earnings | $23,336,578 |
| Career Cuts Made | 121 / 150 |
| 2026 Season | 0 wins, 9 top-25s, 24/25 cuts made (one of the best cut-making rates on Tour this year) |
| Strokes Gained: Total | 78th on Tour (2026) |
MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Masters Tournament: Best finish 9th (2023)
U.S. Open: Best finish T11 (2026)
PGA Championship: Best finish T12 (2024)
The Open Championship: Best finish T34 (2022)
No major win yet, but a genuinely strong and improving track record across all four, with his 2023 Masters top-10 as a rookie-year highlight.
AWARDS
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Haskins Award |
| 2020 | Ben Hogan Award |
| 2020 | Jack Nicklaus Award |
| — | Three-time NCAA All-American at Pepperdine |
PERSONAL LIFE
Known as one of the tour’s more colorful personalities, a self-described introvert who’s also an avid basketball and chess player, plays video games like Among Us and counts American Ninja Warrior and The Queen’s Gambit among his favorite shows.
Lives with former Pepperdine roommate and mini-tour player Roy Cootes. Grew up playing on modest, low-cost municipal courses in Orange County rather than private clubs, a notably different path than many of his tour peers.
BACKGROUND
Theegala’s rise is a distinctly first-generation American story: raised by immigrant parents who “came from India with nothing,” as he’s put it, he became a three-time NCAA All-American at Pepperdine before turning pro in 2020.
His breakthrough came at the 2023 Fortinet Championship, a family-and-team affair that he described as “not just a win for me; it’s a win for the whole family.”
He remains one of the most visible Indian-American athletes in major U.S. professional sports and has spoken about hoping to inspire both Indian-Americans and aspiring golfers in India itself.