Sahith Theegala two strokes penalty self-assesed Saturday 2024 Tour Championship © PGA Tour

uh great back nine kind of what went well for you there what's that starry what went well for you on the back nine you got you on a roll yeah um I've been hitting my short irons and wedges really nice this week it's a it's been a big emphasis of mine the later latter part of the year I've really struggled weirdly in that distance so putting in a lot of work the last month or so and I feel like I've hit a lot of those like 120 to 170 shots really close which which has been awesome I've just had a bunch of opportunities and um my driver hasn't been super straight but uh the putter has been great from that length and I've made a lot of putts from that distance which which was big just some momentum putts that um kind of kept the the birdies going and um yeah it just felt like a lot of my game is is really feeling good right now and number three what's the final verdict yeah it it was a two- shot penalty um Unfortunately they couldn't come up with the the clearest evidence um it was it was a zoomed out kind of the camera angle they had was pretty far behind the ball and it was kind of zoomed out out um it was really tough to see so my my version of is I was I was in the bunker took my back swing and to give context um I flew it in the bunker right on the lip ball rolled up the lip and came back right on top of where it pitched so it it's a very unusual lie um it was teed up in the sand it was a really really nice lie um so it was unusual lie and um you I usually pick up the pick up the club and take it back but because of the LIE um right on my back swing I felt like I moved a few grains of sand for sure like in my peral I I thought I saw some of the sand move as I took my back swing and immediately after I hit it I hit a great great contact great shot talked to Xander about it he was like Hey dude I think I moved some sand while I hit that shot um and we thought that it was no big deal because it there was no intent didn't feel like I actually it didn't actually change the lie at all um but unfortunately the rule is it doesn't matter of the intent if you change the lie in the direct area around the that could affect your swing um is a two shot penalty so at the end of the day I you know we've play I've played so much golf um you kind of just trust your intuition and gut and right away I thought I moved some sand there um I'm in the 90s per sure that that I move from move some sand I'd sleep a lot better if I saw some clear image of me moving the sand but I I really think I did move the sand and um it's just an unfortunate rule um but what are you going to do take the two shots on the chin and and just roll with it um but yeah it's just it just unfortunate but you know I did pretty sure I breached the rules so I'm paying the price for it and and I feel good about it um like I said I'm I'm not 100% sure I would love to be 100% sure but I'd say I'm 98 99% sure that some sand was moved um I've just played so much golf you spend so much time of your life staring down at the lie you have the ball you have and it just did not feel like a normal Fairway shot felt like some of the sand moved and and at the end of that I'm good with the ruling and I think it's very fair that I was assessed Two Shots it happened on your back swing taking the shot correct yeah correct so like all this happens at a millisecond as you correct and and it was so insignificant like if you think about it if you hit something on your back swing and you feel anything you're going to stop and reset like imagine being into the you know having a dow grain lie and you just clip a piece of grass like that's stopping your Club a little bit and the amount of sand I was behind this ball like if I hit any significant amount of sand like I would have stopped and I would have thought it wasn't a penalty and I would have gotten penalized the same just the same except my ball is still there um so it was it was a very little amount of sand I can say that with you know full honesty and Clarity it was not a very large amount of sand I don't think it improved lie at all um I shouldn't say that some of the sand move maybe did improve it but it was on the back swing and it was uh yeah was if you notice my iron shots when I hit a cut I kind of pick up the club and then kind of like sweep it back low and that was what I did there I was trying to hit a cut I picked it up and ended up sweeping it too low and it it so hard to tell cuz of the Shadows in my club um you couldn't see any sand come up That's how little of sand we're talking about I think it literally just brushed down the hill um about that much but uh yeah it's just I wish I could see it on video I'd sleep I'm still going to sleep great I mean whatever two shots like I feel good about it I think it was a penalty I think I moved sand but um just a weird situation um well are are you sleeping back would you sleep better badly if you hadn't called it on yourself oh I wouldn't be able to sleep like if you know I was I was describing the situation no matter what the outcome was I needed to know what the actual rule was um so even though me and Xander thought you know it's just whatever it's fine like you touched the grain of sand didn't mean to move it whatever like you're good right um I decided to call the ru official right away on that green um but anyway either way I would have um asked rules officials after the round two or somehow found out what the rule was and if I didn't ask rules official and I went back home and looked up the rule cuz it would it was sitting in my mind right like again intuition like it felt like I moved the sand it was sitting in my mind so if I went back after the round looked that up and found out that it was a two shot penalty I'd be dced right now so I'm glad I brought it up right away um I know the rules of golf a little bit better now there's a lot of silly stuff you can do in the bunker you can chuck a club in the bunker you can you can literally stand like you can use your golf club as a stand in the bunker as long as it's not right next to your ball um there's a lot of things you can do um but unfortunately it's if it's in the the area affecting the lie and the swing of your shot um regardless of intense a two shot penalty so how easy or difficult was it for you mentally to move on on the fourth hole it was tough I got very upset I don't know if camera saw that but uh Chuck my water bottle just in the moment it's hard to I wear my motions on my sleeve and it was tough to not get upset about that but uh I made a huge par par putt on whole four that that saved my round um it was a pretty wild yeah I'm just really happy I made that putt cuz if I didn't make that putt I would have been really hot walking the whole five but um yeah just gave a little bit more fuel to the fire I guess um just tried to use that positiv my cadd Carl you know kept telling me that I've been playing awesome like just keep doing your thing it's you know two shots is a lot but at the end of the day you got a lot more golf to play so um tried to use it as a positive cool thanks so much thanks