Who Is Sahith Theegala's Caddie?

Sahith Theegala is yet to win an official PGA Tour event, but he's something of a rising star and looks to be a winner in waiting - and he has a pretty good bagman alongside him in the shape of Carl Smith. 

And here's how the pair got together. “Funny story, [Carl Smith] recruited me at Pepperdine, he was the assistant coach at Pepperdine, he recruited me, watched so many of my events, and him and Michael Beard the head coach there were two of the biggest reasons why I wanted to go to Pepperdine,” he has explained previously.

“And [Smith] actually ended up leaving to caddie right before I got there, so it kind of worked full circle that he actually caddied for me in the Korn Ferry Finals, those two final events and got me to the Tour, so it was pretty cool how that worked out."

Smith, who has been caddying on the PGA Tour since 2015, has quite a relaxed relationship with Theegala, and says their chat inside the ropes is rarely about golf. "We talk about basketball all the time because I follow basketball and the Lakers a lot,” Smith said in an interview with the PGA Tour in January 2022. "Last week, though, at Sony he was really excited about Klay Thompson coming back to the Warriors with Steph (Curry) and Klay back together."

Theegala, who won the 2022 QBE Shootout in December 2022, has gained a reputation for pulling off some incredible escape shots, and Smith says that he's had to learn to trust him. "He has this ability if he’s out of position off the tee to just shape it crazy around trees. There’s probably one shot a tournament that I’m just, 'Alright, I’m going to let him do it, I guess,' and I’ve never regretted it," Smith said. "He always seems to pull it off."