The top of the 2024 PGA Championship leaderboard, headlined by multiple major winners, is a star-studded group heading into Sunday.
Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Bryson DeChambeau, and Justin Rose are among those who have already captured major titles during their careers and are vying to add another to their collections.
There are also familiar names up top who haven't yet won a major. Viktor Hovland won the FedEx Cup last year while Xander Schauffle, the third-ranked golfer in the world, has two runner-up finishes at majors and 12 top-10 finishes overall during his career.
Casual golf fans will be familiar with many in contention at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday, but one of the few exceptions might be Sahith Theegala.
While diehard golf fans are familiar with Theegala, the young star doesn't have an extensive major history. He only began playing regularly at the events last season, so he hasn't had as much exposure as the other top PGA Championship contenders.
Here's what to know about Sahith Theegala as he looks to make his mark in the final round at Valhalla.
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Who is Sahith Theegala?
Theegala is a 26-year-old golfer who has competed professionally since 2020. He was a standout college golfer at Pepperdine and earned his first PGA Tour win at the Fortinet Championship in 2023. He beat S.H. Kim by two strokes after shooting a 21-under at that event.
Theegala has enjoyed a solid 2024 season on the PGA Tour. He had yet to win entering the PGA Championship, but he had runner-up finishes at The Sentry and the RBC Heritage among his five total top-10 finishes. He missed just one cut in his first 12 events and seemed poised to break out and earn a second PGA Tour win at some point.
Theegala's success allowed him to enter the PGA Championship as the No. 12-ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). That's good for the highest mark of his career and is 20 spots better than the No. 32 rank with which he finished the 2023 PGA Tour season.
With a win at Valhalla, Theegala would likely move into the OWGR's top 10 as he continues to blossom into one of the PGA Tour's brightest, young stars.
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Where is Sahith Theegala from?
Theegala was born and raised in California. He stayed there during his college days at Pepperdine but has since relocated to Houston, a location that is home to many PGA Tour golfers throughout the lengthy season.
Theegala is a first-generation American. His parents, Muralidhar and Karuna, came to the United States from India in the late 1980s.
"Very proud of my heritage and my background," Theegala told the Times of India in 2021. "Both my parents were born and brought up in India. I spent a little bit of time in India when I was younger. I haven't really been much recently.
"My dad was the first one to leave India in the family. He went to IIT Madras and then he did grad school at Kansas State. Pretty much came here with nothing, really cool story, really thankful for the opportunity my parents gave me."
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Has Sahith Theegala ever won a major?
Theegala has never won a major, and he doesn't have much experience playing in them. The 2024 PGA Championship is just his ninth-ever major appearance.
Theegala has one top-10 finish in his first eight majors. That came at the 2023 Masters, when Theegala posted one of the best rounds of the final day, carding a 5-under mark in the final round to finish alone in ninth place.
Even if Theegala can't stave off competition from the likes of Schauffele, Morikawa, Lowry, DeChambeau, and Hovland, he can still log his best-ever major finish with a solid day.
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Sahith Theegala PGA Championship history
Barring an epic collapse, Theegala will record his best-ever finish at the PGA Championship. He had one previous appearance at the event in 2023 and finished tied for 40th.
Theegala shot 6-over for that tournament. He will certainly best that mark after carding a 14-under through three rounds at Valhalla in 2024.
