2022 Fortinet Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Silverado

Last season produced one of the best rookie crops on the PGA Tour in some time. Sahith Theegala wasn’t able to top Cameron Young for Rookie of the Year honors, but he’s got a lot to be proud of.

Theegala advanced all the way to the Tour Championship and finished 28th in the FedEx Cup. The Korn Ferry Tour Finals graduate amassed five top-10s, including close calls at winning his first event at the WM Phoenix Open (T-3rd) and Travelers Championship (T-2nd).

Theegala kept busy playing 32 of 45 events in the 2021-22 season.

He made 11 top-25s. He didn’t do a lot of damage in the fall portion of the schedule but hit the ground running in 2022.

“Just the fact that I was here and playing … I couldn’t really imagine it at the start of the season – even later on in the season,” Theegala was quoted by Golf Channel. “I wasn’t really thinking about it, but I was just so gassed coming in. I really didn’t play that well the last couple weeks, and I just scored the crap out of it somehow and kind of willed my way into this week.”

Many prognosticators thought Theegala would get the last captain’s pick for the American Presidents Cup team. It went to Kisner, but I think Theegala was deserving of the spot.

He seems like a humble kid who won’t take that as a slight. It would be interesting if he won this week to make Davis Love III wonder if he made the right choice.

The Chino Hills, California, resident has teed it up twice in the Fortinet Championship. Theegala earned T-14th (71-68-64-70) in 2020 and T-47th (69-70-69-75) last year.

The 24-year-old didn’t produce eye-popping stats last season; he just had a knack for getting the ball in the hole and maximized his good weeks.

Theegala was in the positive in all strokes gained categories except for putting (-.043).