The $2.5 Million Penalty

"Intuition, it felt like I moved the sand." – Sahith Theegala

At the highest level of professional golf, a single stroke can mean the difference between first and second place… and between $25 million and $12.5 million. That first figure was the winner’s purse that Scottie Scheffler took home at last week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. Collin Morikawa earned $12.5 million for coming in second, not exactly “chump change.”

Scheffler’s winning score was 30 under par while Morikawa finished at -26. Two strokes behind Morikawa, in third place, was Sahith Theegala, who received $7,500,000 for his score of 24 under par.

In Saturday’s third-round, Theegala was standing in a bunker on the third hole when he thought that his club may have brushed the sand as he began his backswing. No one saw it with their naked eye and even the TV analysts weren’t able to discern anything watching a slow-motion replay. However, Theegala said the lingering doubt was "sitting in my mind” and so, when the hole was over, he approached a tour official and reported the violation… assessing a two-stroke penalty on himself in the process.

Ironically, those same two strokes wound up being the difference between Theegala in third place and Morikawa in second. Call it the $2.5 million penalty, because that’s how much more Theegala would have earned had he tied Morikawa for second place.

Two quick observations about the incident. First, golf is the only sport that I know of where players are expected to call penalties on themselves instead of waiting for a referee to blow his whistle. That’s one of the many reasons why golf has replaced baseball as my favorite sport.

Second, I have a newfound admiration for Sahith Theegala. A graduate of Pepperdine University, a Christian college in Malibu, CA, Theegala was universally praised for his actions at East Lake Golf Club on Saturday. “It just gives you further idea the quality guy that Sahith Theegala is,” said announcer Dan Hicks, before adding, “It’s about doing the right thing for Theegala, and that’s all that mattered.”

“Makes you love golf when you see that,” said analyst Brad Faxon. “Rarely do you hear about that in any other sport. You can look in the mirror when you get up, that’s for sure.”

Perhaps the final word came from his girlfriend, Julianna Chan, who said, “Obviously Sahith is a man of integrity.” And that, my friends, you can’t put a price tag on.

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches.” Proverbs 22:1 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President