Sahith Theegala and Akshay Bhatia dial resilience to fight the Masters battle

The course at Augusta wears you down, one shot at a time. Sahith Theegala, in his second Masters, and Akshay Bhatia, in his first are learning this enduring characteristic of Augusta National one painstaking hole at a time. The American Indian train is chugging along nicely, driven mainly by the steely determination of these two young men, but a big impression might have to wait at least another year. On Saturday, both Sahith (6-over 222) and Akshay (221) made 74, clawing their way around the course riding their stellar temperament.

The 18th hole was a suitable sample for the kind of spirit that has pervaded Sahith’s journey this week. He pulled his tee shot just a little, to invite just the kind of punishment that Augusta deals to golfers at the slightest miss. Sahith showed terrific presence of mind to avoid any heroics, bringing the ball back into play, before nailing his approach with a seven-iron to just six feet. When dialed in, Sahith produces magic, as he did at the 16th hole last year. The par-save at the 18th will make the rolling highlights too for its measured brilliance.

“I've hit the fairway 6 out of 6 times coming into today. And I just toed it a little bit today. Still I thought it would be fine. It landed in the fairway, kicked left. We could see it go into the magnolia. I didn't know that one magnolia is all the way to the ground,” lamented Sahith, as amused as he was relieved to walk away without damage. “So, my ball was wedged in between two branches, like two yards off the fairway. I'm looking at the fairway there. I didn't know if I could play it or not.”


“I was like, all right, I'm not protecting any lead or anything. So I tried to hit it, and it came out nice. It just got out of the tree and trickled into the rough. Probably advanced it eight or nine yards. It still didn't reach the fairway. I had 200 yards and hit my best shot of the day, hit it to like 6 feet just left of the hole. It was nice to make that last putt.”

A few groups behind Sahith, Akshay was playing with former Open champion, Shane Lowry. But the Masters rookie has barely any energy left to pay attention. Akshay has been on the road for seven straight weeks, and admittedly, the exhaustion is catching up. A little bit after he mailed his scorecard, Akshay told me that the fatigue has been his toughest adversary this week.

“No, this is seven weeks in a row for me playing. It's just a lot of golf,” he explained. “Then when you come to a major last minute, especially with the highs of winning, it's pretty challenging.”
“So, it's something I haven't learned to do yet. When I won, I had a week off. Coming to Augusta National is really hard, and trying to prepare but not too much, it's just a fine balance.”

Even then, starting the day at three over, Akshay was grinding it out nicely for as much as ⅚th of his round. He defended losses at the fifth and seventh holes with some imaginative iron play at the eighth and ninth holes. After sailing into the left rough on the eighth hole, he laid up with his second and managed to get up and down with a nice flourish. Another brilliant approach at the ninth left him just four feet from the pin for his third birdie.

A double on the 16th, after landing in the pine straw to the right was a sign of the fatigue that wore Akshay down in another bruising round at Augusta. An errant tee shot into the woods and the greenside bunker extracted another bogey, denting his hopes for a good finish. “It was a tough way to end. It's pretty disappointing, but I've got one more day to kind of charge up the leaderboard,” hoped Akshay.

Sahith showed remarkable resilience over the past two days. The biggest names in golf, and several major champions were biting the dust and getting wet on Friday. But Sahith recovered from a triple on the third to bear his clubs down, toiling through a miserable day at Augusta, staying clear for an incredible 15 holes. He continued the good run, extending his blemishless run to 23 holes including a fine birdie at the eighth hole.

But he conceded four bogeys from there, punctuated by a lone birdie on the 15th hole. “I've always been someone who hates bogeys. I hate bogeys more than I love birdies. I don't usually never have an issue making birdies. So, to go 23 holes, I didn't even realize, but that's really impressive considering I'm not firing on all cylinders,” said Sahith.

“My putting has been great. I haven't really missed any short putts. My chipping feels good. I just keep hitting it in tough spots to make birdies. I've been scrambling for par a lot. That's cool. I didn't realize it was 23. That's nice.”

The Sun will continue to bake the course, but the two men will complete their rounds in relatively easier conditions earlier in the day on Sunday. An under-par round and a good finish will be a nice reward for their enterprising adventure around Augusta this week.