- World No 1 Scottie Scheffler picked up the top prize at the Tour Championship
- But Sahith Theegala missed out on sharing second place after a two-shot penalty
- Theegala admitted to the violation, which ended up costing the American £1.9m
A rare moment at the Tour Championship in East Lake ended up costing Sahith Theegala a huge £1.9million in prize money this weekend.
The tournament, which boasted a huge $100m (£76m) purse, saw world No 1 Scottie Scheffler claim the top prize after his stunning triumph at the Masters earlier this year.
But perhaps the biggest moment of the weekend came when Theegala stepped into the bunker on the third hole on Saturday, as it led to the American missing out on a cool chunk of the winnings.
Theegala self-reported a two-stroke penalty after touching the sand with the back of his club, inadvertently handing himself an advantage on the hole.
The act of sportsmanship took Theegala from -13 to -11 ahead of the fourth hole, which ended up being crucial in his fight for second place with fellow American Collin Morikawa, especially as the cameras failed to spot the incident.
A rare moment at the Tour Championship ended up costing Sahith Theegala a huge £1.9million
The tournament, which boasted a huge $100m (£76m) purse, saw world No 1 Scottie Scheffler (above) claim the top prize after his stunning triumph at the Masters earlier this year
Theegala twice brushed the sand with the back of his club and was awarded a two shot penalty
Morikawa finished the tournament on -26, two shots ahead of Theegala on -24, and took home £9.5m of the prize pot as a result.
Meanwhile, as the third place finisher, the 26-year-old earned £5.75m of the FedEx Cup purse.
But had Theegala not owned up to his two-shot penalty, the pair would have shared the £15.25m runners-up prize fund evenly, at £7.625m each, and he would have walked away from the tournament £1.9m better off.
Explaining the bunker incident after Saturday’s round, Theegala said: ‘I had a very unique lie on three. My pitch mark hit in the face of the bunker, my ball rolled up, and then it rolled back right on top of the pitch mark. So it was a lie that we never usually have or practice.
‘I pick up my club normally on my iron shots, and on that one I went through the same process, and I didn’t feel it but I saw something right as I took it back in my peripheral, I thought I saw some sand move, and I was pretty sure of it – I’d say 90 per cent.
‘I notified Xander (Schauffele) right away, and called a rules official over. Me and Xander thought that, because there’s no intent, and if anything, I brushed a few grains of sand, that it would be no problem, no penalty or anything.
‘But I called for a rules official as I finished the hole and they knew the rule right away – a two-shot penalty because it was changing the lie in the play of the ball.
Collin Morikawa (above) finished the tournament on -26, two shots ahead of Theegala on -24, and took home £9.5m of the purse after his closest rival in East Lake self-reported the incident
Theegala, 26, explained: ‘We play a lot of golf and your intuition as a golfer is very rarely wrong’
‘Unfortunately, there was no clear footage of it happening. I would have loved to have seen a clear video of me moving the sand, but I really think I moved the sand. It’s just a bummer there’s not clear footage.
‘If someone were to ask me, “Did you move the sand?” I’d say yes because I thought I saw it. We play a lot of golf and your intuition as a golfer is very rarely wrong.’
You can’t put a price on honesty…