Indian-American Theegala takes lead in PGA Tour season opener Bhatia 25th

Maui (Hawaii), Jan 5 (PTI) Indian-American golfer Sahith Theegala got off to a flying start with a stunning 9-under 64 at The Sentry to lead the field on day 1 of the PGA Tour season-opener at the the Par-73 Plantation course in Kapalua.
     Touted as one of the rising stars, Theegala, playing the event for the second time, made 10 birdies, including six in a row from the turn, to begin his bid for a second PGA Tour title following his breakthrough win at the Fortinet Championship last September.
     Korea's Sungjae Im fired a stellar 8-under 65 to match his tournament low score at The Sentry as his 2024 PGA Tour campaign also got off to a great start.
     He was among the bunch lying tied second alongside reigning FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland, two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, a resurgent Jason Day and Camillo Villegas.
     The 25-year-old Im, who has two top-10s and a T13 finish last year at The Sentry, had nine birdies on the day.
     Another Indian-American, Akshay Bhatia, who also had a breakthrough win in 2023 which earned him a spot in The Sentry, was lying T-25th with a round of 4-under 69.
     Im's compatriot Tom Kim sank an eagle and four birdies en route a 68, while debutant Byeong Hun An, also from Korea, pencilled down seven birdies against two bogeys for a joint 19th place.
     Si Woo Kim returned a 70 for T37, while eight-time PGA Tour winner Hideki Matsuyama carded a 71 for a tied-46th position.
     Theegala, who came close to a win several times before snaring a title last year, when asked about the wait and how it had changed things for him, said, "Golf-wise, actually, it (Fortinet Championship win) really hasn't changed much. If anything, it's given me a little more validation.
     "As I progress in my young pro career, I realise I don't really need too much validation. It's just putting in the work and the results will come when they come. If not, work harder and just be patient. But it's something that nobody can take away and it's just a testament to all the work," he said.
     "You need a couple of good breaks along the way, and I got it there. Looking back, I'm always going to be able to look back on that win and just kind of how we went about our process, and just every little thing that went into that win is always going to be used as a positive.
     "If I'm struggling or doing really well, I can always look back at that and be like, 'alright, I kind of did this and that during that week', and that's something that's going to be big, I think, coming up, as I hopefully put myself in contention as much as possible," he said.
     On his first round in Maui and what pleased him the most, he added, "Probably 12 (12th hole). Just because I hit a great drive, almost got... just hit it in the greenside bunker there. Didn't hit a great bunker shot and I had a really gnarly 8- or 9-footer that I didn't know which way it was going to break, grain was going all over the place.
     "I just aimed it dead centre and tried to hit it hard and hearted that putt, and that settled me down a little bit more, because I knew 13, 14, 15 were very gettable too, so to make that putt was nice."
     The Sentry is the first event of the 2024 PGA Tour season. It is the first of eight Signature Events in 2024, which offers an increased purse size of $20 million and 700 FedEx Cup points to the winner.
     Eligible players for The Sentry are tournament winners in 2023 and players who finished in the top-50 in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)