Sahith Theegala already overcame a pressure situation when he birdied his closing hole to make the cut at the Texas Children’s Houston Open but he will be a bag of nerves when he throws the ceremonial first pitch at the Houston Astros game on Saturday.
The Astros will face the New York Yankees and in preparation for Saturday night, Theegala sent his caddie, Carl Smith, to Dick’s Sporting Goods to pick up a couple of baseball mitts and a ball.
Theegala admitted he was nervous before making his debut in the Masters last year but he conceded this will be the most nervous he has ever been.
“It’s probably the most nervous I’m ever going to be. The most nervous I’ve ever been is probably a pretty close tie between a putt I had on Korn Ferry Finals and then the first tee shot at Augusta last year. It’s pretty close between those two. I’d probably lean the Korn Ferry Finals one. It’s just a whole different animal when you’re trying to play for your career. At least at Augusta it’s like, dang, I’ve made it here, this is so cool.
“I’m going to be nervous. My caddie, Carl, bought a couple mitts and a ball last night at Dick’s, so we’re going to go to my gym at home and get some shots up, loosen my shoulder with some basketball because I’ve played basketball my whole life and get a couple tosses in because I cannot go into that without prepping. I’m going to be nervous. And 55 or 60 feet, I’m going to cheat all the way to the front of the mound. Whatever it is, 55 feet, it’s a long way. If anything, I’m going to sail it, I will not put it in the dirt. I hope I can keep that promise.”
Amazingly, the world number fifteen has never thrown a baseball before.
“Zero. It’s the only sport I’ve genuinely not tried or played at all in my whole life. Luckily, I feel like I’ve got a nice like — I have a — I have long arms so I feel like at least I can throw with some power, but my accuracy’s going to be very suspicious.
“We’ll see if my very average athletic ability can pull through for me one time. But no experience. I’ve played catch like three times in college just like soft tossing a baseball. That’s about it. I’ve tried to hit baseballs off a tee and it’s just not good.”
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