Style Insider: Fall 2019 Polo Ralph Lauren Golf & RLX Golf Collections

CROMWELL, Conn. – Sahith Theegala is still a rookie. He’s still figuring out how to optimize his performance, manage travel. He’s learning the courses as fast as he can. Not for nothing has he played 83 rounds this season, most on the PGA TOUR. No better teacher than experience. And yet he’s realistic. He knows he can’t expect to always be in contention like he was at the WM Phoenix Open in February, when a bad bounce on 17 led to a hard-luck T3 finish. “Yeah, it’s been an interesting situation,” he said after carding a 6-under 64 in the third round of the Travelers Championship, leaving him 14 under and three behind leader Xander Schauffele (67). “Because obviously now I have the confidence in my own game, but I totally – I’m not fooling myself and I’m not going to have this opportunity to win that often yet. “I’m making great progression to hopefully put myself in more positions like this,” he continued, “but I know I’m not a Rory or Xander quite yet.” Or a Patrick Cantlay, the FedExCup champion who shot 63, the low round of the day, and is in second, just a shot behind his Zurich Classic of New Orleans teammate Schauffele. They won that tournament in April and have also paired up in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. “Yeah, if only it was a combined score again this week we would be doing well,” said Cantlay, who made no bogeys Saturday. “It’s always nice to be out with him, if he’s on my team or if he’s not. I’m going to go out there tomorrow and try as hard as I can and let the chips fall where they may.” Schauffele was fractionally off in the third round and made his first bogey of the tournament after losing his tee shot into the water right of the fairway at the par-5 13th hole. “I’ve got to make more birdies tomorrow,” he said before heading to the driving range. Kevin Kisner (66) is just four back and hoping to draw on his knack for rising to the occasion, which has served him so well at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (2019 champion). “I just always have been able to have the ability to really sharpen my focus when the pressure goes up,” said Kisner, a four-time TOUR winner, including the 2021 Wyndham Championship. Theegala, 24, is still too young to know exactly what his tendencies are. He was in tears after the WM Phoenix Open, where his tee shot at the drivable 17 hole took a hard kick left and trickled into the water, leading to a bogey. He stayed in the fight to the end and wound up just a shot out of the Scottie Scheffler/Cantlay playoff, making plenty of new fans. Since then, he’s been mostly under the radar. After Phoenix, he missed the cut in two of his next three starts. He made cuts but didn’t qualify for the first three majors. Davis Riley and Cameron Young became the co-favorites for Rookie of the Year. Still, Theegala keeps plugging along. “I’ve just stayed patient the whole year and try to stick to that mantra of getting a little bit better, no matter what that is,” he said after a third round that included a 6-foot eagle putt on 13 and was marred only by a bogey at the last. “Even if the scores don’t reflect it, just feeling better about myself and moving forward. But, yeah, I’ve plead a lot of good golf since then too.” His best golf since Phoenix, he added, came at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, where on a firm, tough Muirfield Village he tied for fifth. He was never going to win but liked that his game held up in what he called major-like conditions. He likes that he’s made 19 cuts in 24 starts this season, showing that he can get it around even when he doesn’t have his best. Now the Pepperdine product will get another chance to raise a PGA TOUR trophy. He’ll play the final round with the veteran Kisner, and Schauffele and Cantlay may be very tough to catch. This time, Theegala’s parents won’t be following him shot for shot, but his brother, Sahan, and cousin, Pavin, will be. Sahan goes to Seton Hall, and they drove from New Jersey on Friday. “I’m definitely going to be nervous,” Theegala said. “Definitely going to be excited. It’s so nice having prior experience kind of being near the top. So I know exactly what to expect. And every single week I’m out here I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”

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NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Tiger Woods had his lowest round since his last victory more than five years ago, an 8-under 62 with birdie chances on all but two greens and only one bad swing all day. All it got him at the BMW Championship was a tie for the lead Thursday with Rory McIlroy. Woods did his part in the scorching air at Aronimink that made the 7,267-yard course feel like a pitch-and-putt. He didn’t hit anything longer than a 9-iron into the par 4s and didn’t miss a green until his 14th hole. He came within inches of chipping that one in. “Got off to a better start than I have most of the season. And as of right now,” he said, pausing to smile, “I’m one back. Just the way it goes.” It didn’t go perfectly for McIlroy, either. He was at 9 under when Woods finished, only to make consecutive bogeys and finish with a two-putt birdie for a 62. They had a one-shot lead over Xander Schauffele. “It was one of those days where it was out there,” McIlroy said. McIlroy could have seen a day like this coming. He finished his pro-am round with a 27 on his final nine, and then reached 9 under through 14 holes. That’s a stretch of 17 under par over 23 holes, even if only 14 of them counted in the tournament. Woods generated the biggest buzz, though. He had failed to break part in the opening round at 10 of his last 11 tournaments. This was a big exception. Woods returned to the same putter he has used to win 13 of his 14 majors — his third different putter in as many weeks — and saw some familiar results. He opened with a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 10, shot 29 on the back nine, and then rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 1 to reach 7 under through 10 holes. He didn’t make many more, but he had chances. Woods was posing on his tee shot at the par-3 fifth, the sun glaring into him, and he couldn’t figure out immediately where it went. “Is that long?” he asked his caddie. “I thought it was perfect.” Everything else felt that way to him at that point. His only bogey came at the par-3 eighth, by far the most difficult pin on the course. Woods was between clubs, went with a soft 4-iron and yanked it into the rough. He pitched to 18 feet, a good shot up a ridge and onto a green that sloped away from him. The putt caught the lip. Woods and McIlroy still had to hit the shots and make the putts. The wide fairways and temperatures in the 90s that allowed the golf ball to seemingly fly forever made for such low scoring that 48 players in the 69-man field broke par. Rickie Fowler opened with a 65 in his first tournament since the PGA Championship, and at times it felt like he was getting lapped playing alongside Woods. Jordan Spieth couldn’t keep it in play off the tee and didn’t get under par until his 15th hole. He birdied three of the last four for a 67. Peter Uihlein, who only advanced to the third FedExCup Playoffs event with birdies on his last three holes on the TPC Boston last week, had a 64 to join a group that included FedExCup champion Justin Thomas. McIlroy was on the second green when he looked over at Woods, who had just hit wedge to 4 inches for birdie on the seventh hole and was waiting for the green to clear on the par-3 eighth. The crowd was much thinner for McIlroy, but those fans saw quite a show. He holed an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 2, part of a run six straight birdies. When he was 9 under with four holes left — the last one a par 5 — he started thinking about breaking 60. Instead, he missed the fairway on his next two tee shots, took bogey from about the same spot Woods was on No. 8, and those hopes were gone. “You don’t get many opportunities to break 60 and today was one of them,” he said. “And I didn’t capitalize. I’m not going to say it stings too bad because I’d much rather shoot 62 today and win the golf tournament Sunday than shoot 59 today and maybe not win.”

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SILVIS, Ill. – You cry all the tears and put your life on hold. You hug your loved ones and look for ballast anywhere you can find it. You prepare, but are never really ready. And then, when it’s over, you begin to step back into your old life, unsteady but resolute. “Kandi just wanted to return to something normal,� Hunter Mahan said of his wife, whose sister, Katie Enloe, died of leukemia last week. “You’re never going to forget, but you’ve just got to wake up the next day, and God willing you will wake up the next day and start living.� Mahan returned to competition with a 1-under 70 in the first round of the John Deere Classic on Thursday. He is here in the Quad Cities with Kandi; their three children; Mahan’s mother, Cindy; and Kandi and Katie’s mom, Debbie. They’ve rented a house for the week and are trying to get back to normal, whatever that might be now. “We’ve heard the first year is the hardest with birthdays and holidays,� said Mahan, who has played the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR this season. “It’ll be a hard year. I have bad moments, and Debbie—a mother losing her kid is pretty heartbreaking.� For six-time TOUR winner Mahan, 36, getting back to normal looks like golf. On a muggy Thursday at TPC Deere Run, he drove his ball into an old divot hole in the 18th fairway, but after assessing the situation he hit his approach to just inside eight feet and made the birdie. After signing his scorecard, Mahan obliged a few autograph seekers and indulged a reporter. The orange “KJE� on his white golf bag was a reminder of his last few months. Katie Jo Enloe was 35, and in addition to her husband, Jason Enloe, the former Web.com Tour player and now SMU men’s golf coach, she left behind two daughters, Emma, 5, and Maddie, 3. “My girls, my family are devastated right now but believe in the good Lord that he will provide us all with peace and happiness in the future,� Jason Enloe wrote on Instagram. “I sincerely have appreciated the notes, phone calls and generous gestures during the last 6 months. God has a plan, and we must trust in him that Katie is in heaven and will guide all of us as we continue our journey on Earth.� Katie was diagnosed in January, and late last month left the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to be surrounded by her family at home in Dallas. Mahan withdrew from the Quicken Loans National, where Meagan Laird, wife of PGA TOUR pro Martin, organized an orange-ribbon campaign for leukemia awareness in Katie’s honor. The campaign galvanized the players, one of whom was Ryan Armour, one of Jason’s best friends from the Web.com Tour, who would finish second to Francesco Molinari. Instead of worrying about the Quicken and the topography of TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, Mahan was miles away both literally and figuratively, huddled up with his family. He had planned on playing A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, too, but couldn’t see how. The situation at his mother-in-law’s house back in Dallas was too dire. “We just stayed at Debbie’s house, and just bunked up on the floors and were with her,� Mahan said. “I would come home and take care of the kids, my mom would take care of the kids.� At the end, the call came at 4 a.m., and Hunter stayed home with the kids while Kandi rushed to her mother’s house. Katie died before Kandi got there. The funeral was last Friday. Now much of the family are here at the John Deere, thinking about Katie, yes, but also birdies and bogeys, Hunter’s FedExCup number (161), and other odd things from their old life. “My wife was ready to get out here,� Mahan said. “She hadn’t traveled in a long time. And it’s good for Debbie to get out here with us, get out of her house, which have bad memories for her right now. Good time for her to just start her process, whatever that is. Hard to imagine, but to be with her daughter and a couple of her grandkids is about as good a therapy as you can get. “Kind of the new reality for our family,� Mahan added. “It’s nice to be out here, but also you’re still sad and emotional about everything that’s happened. That won’t go away for a long time.�

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